The Robin Hood Complex
by Triangulum
Summary: Someone puts a hit out on Marie while she's working in New Orleans and Remy just happens to stumble across it. A twist of fate? "You like to irritate assassins? You certainly have some odd hobbies..."
1. Chapter 1

**A/N This we'll consider movie canon up to X2 and I suppose Origins, then we're taking a turn in a totally different direction, so get X3 out of your mind. Remy's eyes are comic canon.**

**Chapter 1**

Remy LeBeau was man of simple pleasures. Tailing an assassin might not be the average man's idea of a good time, but he was having a hell of a time. Mostly because the other man had no idea he was being followed. _He must be brand new to criminal life_, Remy thought. _He's still shiny_. It had been just bad dumb luck on his part that he chose to make a suspicious transaction at the same bar Remy was at. Remy, being the observant, curious and bored man that he was, decided that it was a lovely night for a walk and followed the man out.

It didn't take long for him to figure out he was an assassin, the Assassin's Guild's training left tell tale signs. Remy hadn't seen him before, not that he made a point to hang around with hired killers, but that combined with the way he was operating made Remy think he was new to the active field. He was sloppy by any standards and just not as sneaky as the full-fledged master assassins that were running around. So not just an assassin, but a newbie assassin. This was going to be fun.

The assassin wove through the streets of New Orleans, sometimes backtracking or taking weird routes to lose any potential tails. Luckily, Remy was very good at subtly tailing people, that's why he was a master of his craft and this assassin was greener than fresh spring grass.

Remy was a little surprised when the man pulled his late model Toyota into the parking lot of a bar controlled by the Thieves. At least he knew to drive a non-descript, disposable car rather than something flashy, though it was a stupid move if he planned on doing a job in a Thief controlled bar.

Remy waited a few minutes before following the assassin into the bar. Sure enough, he'd taken a table in the farthest corner and fixed his eyes on a waitress. Remy couldn't blame him, she was in tight jeans and a low cut black shirt with a little black waitressing apron tied around her waist. The way she moved made it very obvious that she knew how to use that curvaceous body to her advantage. She leaned over a group's table, giving a very generous view down her shirt. Her hair was deep brown except for two prominent white streaks wrapped into an easy bun behind her head. After getting the group's drink orders in, she made her way to Remy's table.

"Hey sugar, what can I get for you?" she asked. This close he could see just how bright those emerald eyes were. He traced her hand with his eyes as it brushed a strand of white hair behind her ear.

"Hmm, how about some bourbon tonight chère," he said.

"You got it," she answered, sashaying away. The Thieves didn't own this particular bar, just operated out of it, so they weren't exactly keeping tabs on all the employees so it wasn't too odd that he didn't know this woman on sight. Still, he wasn't sure how much he liked the way an assassin was looking at a waitress in a bar know to be the Thieves'. Remy tsked, honestly, the lack of respect.

The waitress, her name tag said Marie, came back with his drink. "Just let me know if you need anything else," she said with a smile.

"That I will, merci."

Remy was thankful his liver was so strong, if not he's either be drunk as a skunk or dead from alcohol poisoning. He had to keep buying drinks in order to keep from looking too suspicious by just sitting in a bar. The assassin kept nursing drinks too, though when Marie the waitress wasn't looking, he'd dump them in the little flower vase on the table, which was slowly getting more and more full. After two hours, and with the amount of drinks the assassin had 'consumed', he made his move, stumbling up like a drunken fool.

"Oh, won't you take me home tonight!" he started singing. "Fat bottom girls you make the rocking world go round!" He staggered to the bar, clinging to it like his life depended on it. The bartender caught Marie's eye and nodded to the 'drunk' man.

"Okay," Marie said somewhat tiredly. "Come on sugar, let's get you a cab." Marie took the arm of the stumbling man and lead him out of the bar.

"Damn," Remy muttered, following. He made it around the corner to see Marie still holding the assassin's right arm. No cabs were in sight. He twirled his arm out of her grip and whirled, sending a kick to her jaw. Marie cried out but spun with the force of the kick, using the momentum to whirl herself around, landing a series of vicious blows along his throat, sternum and kidneys. The assassin huffed out his breath, doubling over and Marie turned and took off down the alley.

"Nice," Remy said before running around the corner to his parked car. Making like a speed demon, he raced around the block, screeching to a halt at the other end of the alley right in front of Marie, making her skid to a stop. Remy leaned over and threw the door open.

"Get in if you want to live!" he called. She turned, seeing the assassin at the other end of the alley slowly trying to regain movement.

"Number one rule, never go somewhere private with someone who's willing to kill you in public, you'll just die slower and more painfully, so if it's all the same to you-"

"I'm not an assassin, I'm not here to hurt you," he said, keeping an eye over her shoulder.

"Then what are you?"

"Remy LeBeau, a thief. You need to trust me, get in the car. I'm not the one that wants to hurt you!" Marie bit her lip. The man got to his feet and started running as best he could down the alley after them. "I'm kind of going to need an answer now." A shot hit the car a foot from Marie's head.

"Shit! Okay!" she yelled. She threw herself into the car, Remy speeding away before her door was even closed. The assassin ran after them, getting a few shots into the back of Remy's car before they were out of sight. "Who the hell was that?" Marie yelled, watching the assassin grow smaller and smaller.

"Shh," Remy said. "One, inside voices. Two, seatbelts on, we don't want to get pulled over with bullet holes in the car."

"Okay, quietly, who was that?"

"That would be a killer for hire."

"Great," she sighed. Remy raised an eyebrow, between her kicking his ass in the alley and the way she reacted to an assassin, annoyed rather than scared, he was starting to like this girl. "So why's a thief helping me?"

"Some think I have a Robin Hood complex, doing good deeds and saving fair lady," he said with a wink. "I don't see it."

"Oh? Then why?"

"The idea of stealing a trained assassin's target is very appealing to me. And deeply amuses me."

"Lovely," she said. "Why is he trying to kill me?"

"You see chère, that's the thing, only you would know why. Any enemies?" he asked. She smirked.

"Only enemies that would kill me themselves," she said.

"Oh, piss some people off?"

"Always," she said.

"Like?"

"Well…" she hesitated. "How do you feel about mutants?"

He tipped his sunglasses down, revealing red on black eyes. "No problem here."

"Good," she said. "The only people I tend to piss off are big bad mutants, more than happy to come after me all on their own."

"Hm, sounds fun."

"It is."

"So, mutant?" he asked.

"Born and raised. Well, not raised, but you get the idea," she said.

"What can you do?"

She wiggled her hand next to him. "You could say I'm a thief too. Poison skin, can turn it on and off, suck of people's life force, memories and for mutants, their powers."

"Very nice," he commented."

"And you?"

"I make things explode," he said.

"Exciting," she said. "So where exactly are we going?"

"We can't exactly go back to wherever you live, they already know where you work, they will know where you live," he said. "We're going somewhere safe."

Remy drove around New Orleans for awhile before turning up a long driveway somewhere in the suburbs. Her eyebrows rose as they came to a huge iron gate. He punched in a key code, scanned a fingerprint and spoke to someone on the other end of an intercom and scanned a card. The gate opened and Remy pulled through winding up the driveway to the insanely large mansion.

"Somewhere safe," she said faintly, looking around and taking in the security cameras, guards, and was sure there were more she wasn't seeing. "More like paranoid and impregnable."

"I do what I can."

"You live here?" she asked.

"Oui. But before we go in, you need to know that I'm doing what I can to protect you. This is…headquarters," he said.

"Headquarters?"

"For Robin Hood and his merry band on thieves," Remy said cheerily.

"You're the ringleader of a band of thieves," Marie said disbelievingly.

"More or less. Technically I'm not in charge, but I'm high up on the food chain. You will be safe here," he promised.

"Safe in the den of thieves," she muttered. "I guess I've had stranger days."

"That's the spirit," Remy said happily. He led her into the house, waving away the curious guards. They stood aside and let him in. They were barely the front doors when a man came up to them, shaking his head.

"Remy! You have an apartment off grounds so you won't bring the femmes here!" he said, seemingly torn between exasperation and anger.

"It's not what you thing," Remy said.

"Bit of a man whore, are you?" Marie asked.

"Once in awhile," Remy said. "Look Henri, I didn't bring her here to sleep with her."

"Not that he'd get far if he did," Marie muttered.

"I like this fille," Henri said. "But what's she doing here?"

"Someone tried to kill her," Remy asid.

"Unfortunate, but it happens, no offense," Henri added to Marie. She coolly raised an eyebrow. "All I meant fille, is that Remy doesn't usually get involved with assassins, or he doesn't anymore. Apparently some lessons are harder learned than others."

"They were at the Talisman," Remy said. Henri's eyebrows flew up.

"The Talisman? Our Talisman? As in the Assassins know that is our bar and they stay the hell away?" Remy asked seriously.

"Oui. Big political no-no," Remy said. "If I didn't put a stop to it now, it would have been a slippery slope until all mutual respect is gone and our places are no longer safe grounds."

Henri nodded. "True, Pére won't be thrilled an assassin went for a target in the Talisman."

"Oui. Keeping her safe from the Assassins sends a message. Some unwritten rules we won't let them break," Remy said.

"A very strong message," Henri said. He looked Marie up and down before looking back to Remy. "You sure that's the only reason why?"

"Of course not," Remy said. "This is going to irritate the hell out of the Assassins." He put his hand on Marie's back and guided her to the stairs.

"For once I'd like to see you rescue and ugly woman," Henri called after them.

"Irritating assassins? You do have some interesting hobbies," she muttered.

"It keeps life fun," Remy said. "Sorry about mon frère, he gets worried about Guild business."

"Understandable, I guess," she said.

"You okay chère?" he asked, noticing her feisty demeanor was getting quieter.

"As well as one could be as a political tool," she said. He stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"I'm not going to throw you to the wolves for a game of politics if that's what you're worried about," Remy said softly. She looked at him challengingly.

"Oh? And why's that?" she asked.

"I'm apparently Robin Hood, remember?" he said with a wink. "This solidly falls into the 'saving fair lady' category."


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you reviewers, courtneykutie, Chellerbelle, annemariedarkhome, Reny21, Where the plum trees lie, Chica De Los Ojos Café, annacat721, UnseenAngel17 and anon. They make my day.**

**Chapter 2**

Remy brought Marie to a spare room, pointing down the hall to show that his room was just a few doors away. She rolled her eyes at his wink. He also pointed out the connecting bathroom and beautiful balcony, warning her not to fall off, assuring her it had happened, then circles her, eyes raking over her body.

"Can I help you?" she asked somewhat irritated.

"Probably in some way," he answered. "I'm guessing a size seven?"

"Yes…"

"Bon. Well you can't live out of the same clothes every day," he explained.

"How long exactly am I going to be here?" she asked.

"Someone tried to kill you, chère," Remy said, suddenly serious. "The Assassins' Guild and the Thieves' Guild have a strained peace at the moment, they wouldn't dare to come get you and risk way. This is the safest place you could be."

"Anywhere?" she asked, thinking maybe it was time to give Logan a call.

"Thinking of running?" he asked. "I'd advise against it. They have very deep resources, they know who your friends are, they will be watching them. If you go to them, you will just be dragging them down."

Marie had a sudden image of a masked assassin, dressed in black latex for some reason, trying to take on Pete in metal form. She gave a faint smile, but knew he was right, she couldn't drag this back to Xavier's. What if a student got hurt? She sighed. "You're right."

"Of course I am," Remy said. "Get some sleep, we have a big day of saving your life ahead of us."

She flopped backwards onto the bed, exhausted. It was two am and the adrenaline from the attempted murder was wearing off. She barely had time to take off her shoes before falling asleep.

Remy closed the door behind him and was suddenly face to face with Jean-Luc, Patriarch of the Thieves' Guild.

"Pére," Remy greeted warily.

"Remy," Jean-Luc said right back. "Walk with me." Remy fought the urge to groan, this was not a conversation he particularly wanted to have, yet he followed the other man to his office. "Tell me what happened," Jean-Luc said as he sat behind his desk. If Remy wasn't mistaken, his father almost sounded tired. Well at least he was going to hear him out.

"An assassin, first timer if I ever saw one, attacked her outside the Talisman," Remy said. Jean-Luc's eyebrows rose a bit at that.

"Talisman? The bar downtown we operate out of an fund? That is a grave accusation," he said.

"Oui, doesn't mean it's not true though. He attacked her in an alley, sloppily," Remy said. "So I felt it was only right to get her away and I brought her here."

Jean-Luc sighed and muttered something that sounded an awful lot like 'Robin Hood'. "You and the femmes. This, however, could work to our advantage. This could be interpreted as an act of war on their part, and we know the Assassins don't want that. At the same time, you could have created an even more complicated political situation than we would have had before," Jean-Luc said. "But what's done is done. She will be your responsibility. You got her into this mess, you get her out of it. I'll be checking in."

Remy was slightly irritated at being told that he'd created this situation when it was the inexperienced assassin's fault, but Jean-Luc was giving him license to take care of it how he saw fit. He wasn't going to push it. "Thank you, Pére."

"Now that you've saved her, be sure to keep her safe. It would make us look very foolish and weak if we gave her right back of get her killed," he said to his son.

Remy nodded. "I have no plans to get her hurt."

"Good," Jean-Luc said. "Now, get some rest. You're going to have a difficult day tomorrow."

"Don't I know it. Goodnight, Père."

"Goodnight Remy." Remy was almost out the door when Jean-Luc said, "Oh, and since this is now your responsibility, you get to respond when Belladonna calls."

Remy pulled a face. He nodded, resigned. "You love to torture me, don't you?"

"From time to time."

Remy left, shaking his head. His father was right, he was going to have a very stressful day. He retired to his room and actually fell asleep quickly, a first. It seemed it had barely been a moment before he was shaken awake by Henri.

"What?" Remy asked, irritated.

"We have call from Belladonna," Henri said. Remy swore and rolled out of bed, pulling on a shirt. He followed Henri to a conference room of sorts where Belladonna was shown on a large flat screen that took up most of the far wall.

"Video conference," Remy muttered. "Great."

"Remy LeBeau," Belladonna said flatly, sitting in an ornate chair. "Once again, sticking your nose in other people's business."

"Belladonna Boudreaux, still dressing so…bravely. Apparently your school for killers is losing its touch. I made your man as an assassin in twenty seconds, followed him for three hours and stopped him in less than a minute," Remy said casually.

"Yes, I'll be having a conversation with some of our trainers later today," she said. Her voice was casual, but Remy felt a sudden surge of pity for the poor men and women who were about to become the target of Belladonna's rage.

Remy whistled. "Well I must say, I'm glad I'm not them."

"You're also a problem for me. You're interfering with our contract, you know better," she said.

"Well your assassin with training wheels tried to take her out in one of our bars. An employee at one of our bars actually. That's an even bigger political no-no than interfering with your contract," Remy said smoothly. The political dance was something he was good at, but didn't particularly enjoy. Belladonna wasn't a fan either, the necessity of keeping emotions under wraps was difficult to manage when she was so annoyed with him.

Belladonna paused, face carefully blank. "It seems we're reached an impasse," she said finally. "We still want that target."

"Consider her compensation for attacking in a safe zone," Remy said. Belladonna glared.

"I'll be in contact soon." The video cut out. Remy exhaled, running a hand over his face.

"That went well, "Henri said conversationally.

"That woman is going to be the death of me," Remy muttered.

"You're the one that almost married her," Henri reminded. Remy glared.

"You're losing your hair," he said

"You're gaining some weight."

"Your butt is sagging."

"Your Viagra won't help that problem in the pants."

Remy glared at his brother. "I bought some time, not much, but some," Remy said.

He waited a few hours before waking Marie, figuring she would be physically and emotionally drained from the attempt on her life. Much to his surprise when she answered the door, she was fully dressed and showered.

"So the clothes fit?" he asked, referring to her outfit. She looked down at the jeans and black shirt.

"Yeah, though some of these aren't quite my style," she said with a wrinkled nose. She held up a shirt that looked like it barely covered anything and was made of red lace. "If you think I'll be wearing this, I'll kick you in the ass right now."

Remy laughed. "Don't worry, I sent you up a variety of things, you never know what you might like."

Marie tossed the shirt, two sets of lingerie, a pair of silver booty shorts and a shirt that seemed to be made up of nothing more than wisps of fabric at Remy. "Nice try."

Remy shrugged. "Can't blame me for trying on a belle femme like you."

Marie gave an indulgent smile. "Remy, what did you need?"

"We need to talk," Remy said, toning down the playful attitude. Remy motioned for her to follow and he led her down the hall. "My office," he explained. Marie wondered how exactly he managed to get anything done. Papers were strewn about across various tables. Blueprints were tacked on the walls with notes of various colors. There was a table in the corner covered with many sinister looking tools.

"Office?" she asked skeptically. "More like planning den of terror."

"That, too," Remy agreed. He sat down with her at a relatively clean table. "So, we need to talk. The only way you'll be safe is if we find who put the hit out on you and in some form or another, take them out."

"Take them out?" Marie asked worriedly.

"If we go traditionally, we could…encourage them to remove the hit," he said.

"How exactly would you encourage them?"

"We could blackmail, bribe, steal something important, there are plenty of ways," Remy said.

"And if the traditional encouraging methods aren't working?"

"Death is encouraging," Remy said.

"Is there something more creative than traditional means? Less horrible ending-y than death?" she asked.

"We're the Thieves' Guild," Remy said smiling. "Creative is in the job description."

"Well, good," Marie said.

"You know chère," he said, putting his feet up on the desk. "You don't seem too freaked out about this."

Marie snorted. "It's not exactly the scariest thing that's happened to me," she said.

"Oh? How interesting is your life as a waitress in a bar?" Remy asked.

She gave him a wry smile. "My life doesn't really revolve around being a waitress. I haven't been here too long, just a few months actually."

"With that southern accent?" Remy asked. "Unless my ears deceive me, you aren't a northerner."

"I'm not, I'm from Mississippi," she said.

"Hm," he said. "Got a little Cajun in you?"

"Nope," she answered.

"Want some?"

"Oh god."

Remy laughed at the scandalized look on her face. "Anyways," she said pointedly. "I've been up in New York for awhile, living with a group of mutants up there."

"Oh and there's a lot of danger with them?" he asked teasingly.

"I suppose you've heard of the X-Men?" she asked.

"But of course, have a few friends with them," he said. "Ah, you're one of Stormy's famed X-Men, are you?"

"Absolutely," she said. "I was known as Rogue."

"Rogue." He said the name as if tasting it. "I like it. Rolls off the tongue. Gambit for me."

"Why am I not surprised?" she asked with a laugh.

"So that explains why most of your enemies wouldn't hire an assassin. When it comes to the X-Men, people prefer the hands on approach," Remy mused. "Anyone who might have a grudge apart from crazy mutants?"

"Not that I can think of, I haven't been anywhere besides New York for years," she said with a frown. "I don't know, I can't think of anyone."

"It isn't necessarily recent," Remy said. "Could be from your past, anyone with a problem. The fact that they hired a lower level assassin means they were paying for lower quality, therefore cheaper. If this has been stewing for years, that might mean it took them awhile to gather the money, so that's why they went to the cheap end of the killer spectrum."

"No, I…oh."

"Oh?" Remy asked.

"Oh," she confirmed. "The, uh, first boy I kissed."

"First kiss?" Remy asked. "Chère, I don't think anyone would want to kill anyone over a first kiss, especially if it was from you." He noticed Marie was suddenly very interested in her silver nail polish. "Marie?"

"My powers manifested during that first kiss. There was, I, I had no control, no idea what was going on…I sucked the life right out of him. He had multiple seizures and was in a coma for weeks. When his dad found out it was my fault, he said…stuff."

"I'm sorry," he said. He nearly grabbed her hand, but stopped himself. If touch was that important and frightening to her, he felt it wasn't his place to initiate. "I know this isn't the greatest subject, but I need you to tell me what he said."

Marie sighed. "He said he'd break my neck so I couldn't ever touch anyone again."

Remy's eyebrows show up. "That's a very specific threat. And you never told anyone about this?"

"I ran right after that, hitchhiked up to Canada, ended up with the X-Men," she said. "Then Magneto started hunting me and tried to kill me in an attempt to irradiate world leaders. I figured my ex-boyfriend's dad he was low on my list of worries."

"Liberty Island?" he asked.

"You know about that?" she asked, surprised.

"I was curious. We have deep pockets and our own sources," he said. "Well you're right, your life isn't boring."

"No kidding," she muttered.

"So this man, we should check him out even if you don't think he would do it," Remy said.

"I don't want to believe it," she said. "But I wouldn't blame him, David was his son."

"Doesn't give him the right," Remy said. "I'll need his name."

"And if he's the client?" Marie asked, still looking at her hands. Remy assessed her from his relaxed position.

"We discussed this," he said.

"I just…I've already almost destroyed his family once…"

"Marie," Remy said firmly. He did take her hand this time. "It was an accident, you didn't try to kill his son. Plus, he's alive and well, there's nothing to punish you for."

Marie groaned. " I know, I know."

"We'll figure out what to do if it turns out to be him," Remy said. "Remember, this is the only way to keep you safe permanently."

"Why is that?" Marie asked. She wasn't exactly an expert on murder, but odds were the assassin wasn't going to just throw in the towel.

"Most of the time, a job isn't paid in full until there is proof of death. With no one to pay them, there's no point for any assassins to come after you."

"Anything I can do?" Marie asked.

"Keep yourself here and safe. I'm going to send someone to David's father's home and work, see what they see," Remy told her.

"Won't _they_ be seen?" Marie asked, worried. Remy gave her a look that was part condescending but mostly highly amused.

"No, chère. We are very good at what we do."

After hammering out murder issues, Remy decided Marie needed to do something to get her mind off death and murder, so he brought her downstairs to the gym. Guild members were scattered throughout the spacious room, some sparring, some lifting weights, some working on cardio. Marie turned to Remy.

"Trying to tell me I'm fat, swamp rat?"

Remy chuckled. "Not at all. I was impressed with how you took down the assassin in the alley last night, though I guess it makes sense, Stormy and Logan wouldn't let you escape without training the hell out of you."

"I've got the scars to prove it," Marie confirmed.

"Well let's put your training against mine?" Remy suggested.

"That's solidly unfair," she grumbled. "Powers on or off?"

"Use em," Remy said. "They're a tool in your arsenal, the key is to avoid relying on them only."

"Fine," Marie said warily. Remy grinned. They took their jackets off, stretched a bit before coming together. They both dropped into their stances. Neither knew the other's fighting style, so they circled cautiously. Remy dived in with a few jabs, trying to feel her out. The training thieves stopped what they were doing and started to gather, curious about one of their leaders and this girl who so far only had rumors surrounding her.

Remy whirled in, striking. Marie managed to dodge, kicking his feet out. He rolled backwards to his feet. She dropped back into a defensive stance as he pulled a card from his boot. A few thieves snickered. The card glowed magenta with the charge. He flung two cards and ran at her. Marie performed an impressive bit of footwork and avoided the explosions. Remy was suddenly there, grabbing her arm and twisted it around behind her. She threw an elbow back, catching him in the side of the head.

Remy dropped back to get out of her reach when he felt an odd sensation, like he was paralyzed and somehow less energized. Marie pulled her hand away and he stumbled, slightly disoriented. She whipped around, laying a kick to his shoulder. Charging the change she had in her pocket, she launched herself at him, throwing the explosive coins in front of her. With a roll, he dropped to the side and threw his legs around hers, sending her crashing onto the floor next to him. He crawled on top of her waist, pinning her to the mat. Remy whipped out a charged card and held it to her throat.

"I win, chère," he said. There was a smattering of applause as Remy helped her to her feet. She heard one of them mutter, "Remy always get the femmes on their backs." Marie grabbed a card from Remy, charged it and threw it at the offending man, sending him flying back ten feet.

"Now that's just rude," she said. The assembled thieves laughed, as did Remy.

"I must say, I like your style. Stormy taught you well."

"Mostly it was Logan. I didn't have powers that worked until I was up close and person so he made sure my hand to hand was excellent," she explained.

"Sounds like Sir Stabby," Remy said cheerfully. "We should visit him and Stormy when we're done saving you."

"Yeah," Marie said, eyes shifting to the side. "Maybe."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

By dinner, word had spread that some woman who was with Remy nearly kicked his ass in the gym. Also that this mysterious woman seemed to be a natural thief, with a single touch she'd stolen his powers. Despite her denial, they were still convinced she was sleeping with him and wondered what exactly it was about her that made her the first woman Remy had brought home.

There were two dining rooms at the Guild's headquarters, one used by Jean-Luc and his family and also for business. The second was for whatever thieves happened to be there and felt like staying for dinner. Remy decided not to subject Marie to the second and invited her to dinner with his family.

Marie wasn't sure how she felt about this. After all, Remy's brother hadn't been to keen to see her the night before. Remy assured her it was fine, his family just wanted to meet her. She sat next to Remy, across from Henri and a beautiful but somewhat irritated looking woman. An older man walked in after they'd been sitting for a few minutes and took a seat at the head of the table.

"Marie, this is mon père, Jean-Luc," Remy said, motioning to the man.

Jean-Luc took her hand and kissed her knuckles. "And you must be Marie, it's a pleasure to meet you, though the circumstances are unfortunate," Jean-Luc said.

"It's nice to meet you," Marie said politely.

"You already met mon frère, Henri. That is his beautiful and spiteful wife, Mercy."

"Bite me, Remy," she said sweetly.

"You see?"

Marie kicked him under the table. "Don't make me blow you up again."

Mercy and Henri laughed. "Oh I like her," Mercy said. "So Remy tells us you're key in his plan to badger, annoy and otherwise irritate our friendly neighborhood assassins."

"Er, yeah, I guess so," Marie said.

"Excellent."

"I find your guys' enthusiasm for irritating mercenaries kind of disturbing," Marie said with a frown.

Remy, Mercy, and Henri chuckled. "Remy just has a gift for being irritating," Henri said happily.

"That he does," Jean-Luc said. "I'm sure this is scary, fille."

Marie shrugged. "I've been more scared," she said. "Occupational hazard."

"Of being a waitress?" Henri asked, amused.

"X-Man actually," she said.

"Oh? So why's a pretty little mutant warrior waiting tables for New Orleans drunks?" Henri asked.

Marie averted eye contact and set her jaw. It was obvious to the trained eye that she was suddenly very uncomfortable and the LeBeaus all had very well trained eyes. "Playing hers and villains got old, it was time to move on."

"Fair to say," Jean-Luc said. He turned to Remy. "So what is your plan for handling this?"

"I sent someone to Mississippi to look into a man who made a rather rude death threat against her," Remy said. "I told him to be very thorough, I want to be sure one way or another, so it'll take a few days."

"And if it's him?" Jean-Luc asked. Remy's eyes slid to Marie. "We'll figure it out once we have information on him." The LeBeaus didn't miss the way Remy looked at her, almost apprehensively. Mercy filed it away for later use, she figured this was more of a woman to woman things and Remy was only good at the deep and meaningful stuff if it involved getting into someone's pants, at least as far as she'd seen.

Dinner went surprisingly well. There was some vague talk about heists planned. Marie assumed either Remy promised them she wouldn't say anything or they thought she was so dependent on them that she wouldn't betray them. Maybe both, or neither, she had no idea how these people thought. Remy disappeared for 'planning time' with Henri and Jean-Luc after dinner, leaving Marie in the care of Mercy and their one year old daughter, Claire. "

She's beautiful," Marie said. The little girl giggled and crawled across the couch, settling onto Marie's lap.

"She is," Mercy said smiling. "She likes you. Feel special, she bit Remy's fingers every time she saw him for a solid week when she first got her teeth." Marie laughed, the image of a baby hanging off Remy's hand by its teeth popping into her head.

"Smart girl," she said."

"Absolument. I think he still has the scars," Mercy said. Marie laughed again. They were silent for a few minutes, watching Claire explore Marie, very intrigued by her silver and emerald bracelet. Claire yawned and started squirming. Mercy picked her up when Claire began to cry. "I'll be right back, I'm going to put this one to bed."

"Okay," Marie said. Her phone beeped as Mercy left. It had been beeping all day, reminding her that she had voicemails to check. She sighed and put her phone to her ear.

"_Hey kid, it's Logan. Just checking in. As much fun as it is to get random ass postcards from all across the damn country, it'd be nice to actually hear from you."_

_Beep._

"_I know you have your phone so you know I can track you, even without my senses."_

_Beep._

"_Kid, I know you're pissed and by all means, stay angry, but at least let me know you're okay."_

_Beep._

"_Rogue, if you don't call me soon, I'm marching my ass down to find you and you damn well know I will."_

Marie sighed. She knew Logan wasn't happy with her decision to leave, but so far he'd kept his distance. But he was right, she knew he'd raise all hell trying to find her if she didn't contact him soon. She groaned, slumping back into the couch.

"Tough phone call?" Mercy asked from the doorway.

Marie glanced up. "Voicemail, actually. Would it be okay if I made a call? A friend of mine is getting worried that I haven't called for awhile…"

"Sure," Mercy shrugged. "The assassins already know you're here, there's not much they could learn by tracing the call."

"Thanks," she said. Steeling herself, she dialed Logan.

"_Rogue?"_

"Yeah, it's me."

"_You okay?"_

"Yeah, yeah it's going fine. Down south again. I missed my part of the country," she said with a smile.

"_It's lucky to have you back." _Logan's voice was cautious and she realized he was worried about scaring her off. She stifled a groan, she hadn't meant to alienate her best friend.

"Yeah. Look Logan, I'm sorry I've been out of contact. I wasn't avoiding you, I was avoiding contact with everyone," she said, finger twirling one of her rings.

"_I know, kid. I wasn't offended. We're here for you, we were just worried when you left."_

"I don't want their worry."

"_Well you've got mine, you don't like it? Tough."_

Marie cracked a small smile. "I do miss you Logan. I'll call again when I can."

"_Stay safe, Rogue."_

"Safe as always."

"_That's what worries me."_

Marie breathed in relief as she hung up the phone. She was expecting a lot more yelling and threats, but instead he was treating her like a scared puppy. Though she couldn't really blame him, she was the one who had left with almost no warning.

"Logan a boyfriend?" Mercy asked, sitting next to her on the Victorian couch.

Marie snorted. "Not at all. Good friend mixed with father figure."

"You didn't tell him there's a hit out on you?" Mercy asked.

"No," Marie said. "He doesn't need to know."

"Big worrier?"

"Oh yeah. If I told him about this, he'd burn down all of Louisiana to help," she said, smiling slightly.

"Sounds like a good guy to have on your side," Mercy said. Marie nodded. "So what would he say if this guy turns out to be the one who hired someone to kill you?"

Marie held Mercy's gaze. "He'd say to take care of it, no matter what. Or, well he'd probably do it himself," she said finally.

"Exactly. Marie, I know you're skittish about this," Mercy said. "But if it's a choice of his life or yours, pick yours. That's survival."

"I know," Marie said softly. "It's just…I nearly ruined his life once already."

"Nearly, so his life isn't ruined. Was it on purpose?"

"No…"

"Then stop blaming yourself. It'll make you vulnerable. Don't do their job for them," Mercy said sternly.

Marie smiled at Mercy. "Thanks. I just need to get my head on straight I guess."

"No problem," Mercy said, shooting her a genuine smile. "I like you, which believe me, is very rare for Remy's 'conquests'. I'd like to keep you alive."

"Thanks, I like you too. I'm not a conquest though, at all," Marie said. "I just met Remy last night."

Mercy couldn't keep the shock off her face. "Last…you mean you haven't been seeing him?"

"Uh, no, he came into the bar I work at and got me out of the alley."

Mercy's jaw was unceremoniously hanging open. "I thought…I mean, we all assumed you're his girlfriend of fuck buddy or something. He really met you last night?"

"Yeah," Marie said.

"Wow. You have to understand Marie, Remy hasn't introduced any women to us, never anything like this at all. We just assumed…well, this makes you even more special," Mercy said.

"Special?"

"There's something very different about you, Marie."

They looked up to a throat clearing in the doorway. "Ladies," Remy greeted. "Having a good night?"

"We are," Mercy said. "Claire likes her. No scars and no biting."

"Ha ha," Remy said. "It's late, ready for bed, chère?"

"If by bed you mean separate beds and rooms, absolutely," Marie said. Mercy shook her head.

"I can't believe you aren't sleeping together."

"Not yet," Remy said with a wink. Marie rolled her eyes. Remy walked her to her room, holding the door open for her. "Breakfast is at eight tomorrow, we'll see you there?"

"Yeah," Marie said. He turned to leave. "Hey Remy?"

"Oui, chèrie?"

"Thanks you everything," she said.

He leaned in and kissed her cheek. "You are very welcome."

She closed to door as he left, the spot on her cheek still tingling where his lips had touched her. Luckily, Remy had thought to send her pajamas. She crawled into the king sized bed and under the sheets. They were real silk if she wasn't mistaken. Feeling inexplicably safe despite the threat of murder hanging over her head, she fell asleep fast.

Remy was up at five the next morning, immediately heading down to the gym. A few thieves were there, blasting music over the sounds of their workouts. Remy went to an adjoining room to work on his acrobatics. The gym had bars sticking out of the walls so he could swing and climb around, simulating possible theft conditions. He worked for an hour and a half on his acrobatics before moving to a weight set. After an hour, the music in the next room cut out. Remy set the weights down when he heard the topic of their conversation.

"I don't know why they're keeping her here, it's just going to piss off the assassins," one of the men said.

"I know man, this is going to start a war and I don't wanna fight a bunch of pissed of killers," the other said.

"This is stupid, I don't want to get caught up in a LeBeau pile of crap," said the first. "Expecially over some bitch he's banging."

Remy decided it was time to make his presence know. He stepped out of the adjoining room, right into their path. They froze, though they did manage to hide the deer in the headlights looks. "So," Remy said cheerfully. "We have some Remy-bashing going on here. Tsk, tsk, that's just not polite."

"I-we-"

"Were very loud," Remy said. "Don't try to deny it, you'll only look foolish. Now, if I hear you describe Marie that way again, you'll be destined for a year of mall pick pocketing."

"I…"

"Am foolish. Don't try to understand the politics at work here," Remy said coolly. They nodded very fast and left quickly. Remy shook his head and sighed. He wondered how many more were thinking that way. Whatever happened to respect? They just didn't make criminal organizations the way they used to.

**Thank you reviewers, Chellerbelle, Leaseablue, annacat271, awh1202a, Chica De Los Ojos Café, Jessica, annamariedarkholme, courtneykutie, VeryaTirananniel, Reny 21 and Celeste Genevieve. You make my day every time.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N You all make me cheery. Thank you reviewers, annemariedarkhome, GoDrinkPinesol624, Le26199, angel897, Celeste Genevieve, LuckedClover, cerrenous, Chica De Los Ojos Café, Courtneykutie, VeryaTiranennial, annacat271, Reny21, Icelynne, Chellerbelle, and Umbra8191.**

**Chapter 4**

Marie was vaguely concerned about how easily she slipped into life at the LeBeau mansion. She ate when they did, trained with Remy in the gym, even spent time with Mercy, Henri and Claire. It had only been three days but she fell into their lives as if she'd been involved with them for years. Mercy was especially pleased with Marie being in the household. She'd spent years as the only woman around. Sure there were female thieves, but considering how high she was in the hierarchal food chain, not many women either wanted to be friends with her, or were too uncomfortable to be genuine anyways. She loved her family, but it really got lonely sometimes.

Marie was the perfect solution to that. She couldn't take her shopping since taking her in public was an almost guaranteed way to get Marie shot, but she could shop online with her. Money was no object, so she found herself ordering clothes, and adorable yellow bag and a pair of boots to replace Marie's worn set. Marie stubbornly objected, but Mercy ignored her. Overnight shipping was a godsend, so on the morning of Marie's fourth day with the Guild, Mercy used her as a human Barbie doll. The bright yellow bag was perfect, so were the boots, though for the price they'd better be. When Marie saw how much they cost, she tried to make Mercy return them, but Mercy swore up and down that she'd beat Marie to death if she tried.

Marie was dressed in the designer jeans and a form fitting black shirt with a plunging neckline. Mercy forced her to put on the new motorcycle boots, a new black leather jacket and as Marie called it, 'the bright-ass yellow bag'. Mercy grinned.

"It's perfect!" she said.

"I feel like you love me for my willingness to let you dress me like a personal toy," Marie said.

"Only a little bit. Don't let Remy hear you say that, he'll try other things if you're his 'toy'," Mercy said. "When you're done being marked for death, I'm taking you out on the New Orleans town."

"Remy already said he'd so that," Marie said.

"Well I get dibs," Mercy said. "He can have you when I'm done."

"Feeling like a toy again," Marie said. Mercy laughed. Remy came down to find her a few hours later, pulling her out of the room. Mercy watched curiously, sure she would find out whatever they were talking about later.

"The men I sent to David's father's house just got back," Remy said.

"Oh," Marie said. "It is…did they find anything?"

"Non," Remy said, shaking his head. He almost though she looked relieved. Immediately her expression changed to one of confusion and worry.

"I don't understand," she said slowly. "I don't know who else would want me dead."

"Well it's someone," he said. "It may even be something small that to anyone else would be nothing. There are some people who are so unstable that anything could set them off."

Marie ran a hand over her face. "I don't know," she said. "I never exactly went out at all, most of my time was spent at Xavier's."

"And no one there would…"

"No!" Marie insisted. Remy put his hands up in a sign of surrender.

"There has to be something," he said tolerantly. He didn't want to push her but there was something she knew, whether she knew it or not.

"I'm trying, I'm sorry," she said. This was ridiculous, she was a good person, people don't just randomly try to kill her! People tease her, joke with her, even flirt with her occasionally but randomly want her dead? Not common. How could she fight something she knew nothing about? She couldn't take here, eventually he'd make her leave. Marie was very near the point of screaming, eyes darting around the room. Remy realized she was on the edge of a panic attack and grabbed her hands.

"Relax, chère, it's okay," he said. The hands he held were shaking slightly. _Shit, _he thought. He pulled her in to him, his body molding to hers, arms surrounding her. There was a fine trembling moving through her body. He pulled her in tighter, one hand stroking her hair. "It's okay ma chèrie, shh, don't worry." He began to whisper softly to her in French, attempting to soother her frazzled nerves. After a few minutes of Remy's comforting touch, she pulled herself together and stepped away from him.

"This is ridiculous," she said, taking a deep breath. "I fought mutant terrorists and was fine. Hell, it's been four days and this is bothering me now? This is just…dumb."

"It's the fear of the unknown," Remy said. "You were fighting terrorists, you knew they were the bad guys and wanted to do bad things. You have no idea what's going on here."

"Still," she said, crossing her arms as if literally holding herself together.

"Honestly, Marie, I'm shocked you didn't have a minor mental breakdown before now. You were in a state of shock and disbelief. Very high functioning, but still. You're allowed a mental stumble with a trained killer tried to murder you," Remy said.

"Well I'm so glad I have your permission," Marie said with a smirk. Remy wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"That's my girl. Now, let's get lunch."

They ate with the LeBeaus again and gave the news that they hadn't yet found the client. They were genuinely disappointed. The inclusion of Marie at their tale and in their home had become completely normal in less than a week. They began to actually like Marie and enjoy her company, which was huge for all of them. None of the LeBeaus could remember the last time they'd befriended someone outside the Guild except to make assets out of them. While Marie had originally just been a political tool to use against the Assassins, they actually found themselves wanting to keep her safe for personal reasons instead of political ones. Go figure.

Remy, Henri and Jean-Luc once again had to attend to Guild business after lunch and left, Henri kissing Mercy and Remy kissing Marie's hand.

"I know it's late notice, but I have a thing I need to go to this afternoon. Is there any way you could watg Claire this afternoon?" Mercy asked her.

"A thing?" Marie asked wryly. "Is this 'thing' illegal and lucrative?"

"Of course," Mercy said. "Isn't that what your 'things' are?"

" No comment," Marie said with a smile. "It's no problem, I'd love to watch her."

Remy was having significantly less fun than Marie. She was spending her afternoon with an adorable, fun and possibly best behaved baby ever while he felt like he was babysitting some of the worst behaved twenty-something-year-olds ever. In fact, he'd have taken a dozen Claires instead, biting habits and all. The two young Thieves were preparing for their tilling, the first Guild sanctioned assignment that, if passed, would make them Guild members. And these two were some of the dumbest the Guild had turned out in years. Remy was seriously worried about the world if these two were any reflection of the younger generation. Then again, Marie was only a few years older than them and infinitely more intelligent. Maybe they were dropped on their heads.

Remy had no idea what to do with the two. They weren't competent enough to become masters of their craft, but they couldn't just keep them at the kiddie table for the rest of their loves. Maybe they should make remedial thief classes. No, that would just promote mediocrity.

Remy ran his hand over his face. He did not envy his father, having to deal with these kinds of problems everyday. He'd never been gladder that it was Henri who would be taking over the Guild and its headaches instead of him. He sent the two Thieves out, deciding to deal with them later .It was later, past dinner, but he had one more meeting before he could call it a night. The knock on the officer door let him know that his visitor was here, finally.

"Come in."

The young man that walked in had sandy blond hair and an attitude so cocky that even Remy cringed. He wondered if he brought out a safety pin, he could pop the other man's inflated ego. "Aaron," Remy acknowledged.

"Remy," the man, Aaron, said in a short tone.

"You weren't exactly forthcoming about why you wanted to see me," Remy said, waiting for the other Thief to say something.

"I suppose I wasn't," Aaron said smoothly. Remy fought an eye twitch. "It's about that stray you picked up, Marie, I believe her name is."

Remy wasn't fond of that phrasing, sounded entirely too much like he was talking about a dog that needed to be taken to the pound.

"Oh?" Remy asked, eyebrow arching. Aaron wasn't a particularly high ranking Thief, but he did have some degree of political clout, though not nearly as much as Remy.

"Yes," Aaron pursued, ignoring Remy's warning glare. "It is not prudent to keep her here. It's only going to make matters with the Assassins worse. She had no reason to be here. 

"Political reason, not that you need or deserve an explanation," Remy said. "The Assassins need to know we will not give them ground simply because the push us a bit."

"You've made your statement, you saved her from their incompetent man and whisked her off," Aaron said dismissively. "It is time we sent her on her merry way."

"She would be dead within a week, Belladonna would see to it to make up for her man's failure," Remy said.

Aaron smiled, nearly cruelly. "Going soft over the pretty girl?"

"This is politics, you wouldn't understand," Remy said simply, fighting every urge to smack the smug smile off the younger man's face.

"There are better and less deadly ways to deal with the Assassins!" Aaron insisted.

"Oui, but none nearly as fun," Remy said. "Now, I think it's time you stop questioning me, your superiors, and get out of here." Aaron gaped, fuming for a moment before turning on his heel and marching out. Remy sighed. "Fantastic."

Remy reached into his pant pocket and retrieved the phone he used for personal calls only. He'd been so busy the last few days that he hadn't even had the time to turn it on. As expected, he had several missed calls and voicemails.

"_Hey Remy," a smoky voice greeted him. "It's Charlotte. I had an incredible time last night. Call me soon."_

_Beep._

"_Remy." A throaty voice this time, with a hint of a European accent. "It's Katarina. You left something at my place. Come and get it and maybe we can do something involving wine and candles? Ciao."_

_Beep._

"_Hey babe, Morgan here. Haven't heard from you in a few days, we still on for tonight? I'm assuming so, I'll see you then."_

_Beep._

"_Remy." Smoky Charlotte was back. "I am wearing nothing but a garter belt and heels. Why don't you come over here and take it off with your teeth?"_

_Beep._

"_Remy, Katarina. I know I'm not exactly on the top of your list of priorities, but can I at least get a call back?"_

_Beep._

"_What, you miss our date and I don't even warrant a phone call? Damn it, I knew your womanizing crap was going to bite me. Screw you." Well, Morgan was pissed._

_Beep._

"_Remy, doll, I have tried being patient but this is ridiculous, no? I don't deserve to be blown off like this. Let me know when you get your head on straight. Ciao Remy."_

_Beep._

"_Call me when I'm worth your time." Charlotte's voice was hard, the sultry edge gone._

Remy groaned. Apparently he had some bridges to mend. Dealing with his mistresses, for lack of a better term, was starting to feel like a tedious chore, like doing the dishes. And no one wants to sleep with the dishes. He turned the phone off, deciding it was too late to call now and he'd sort it all out with them tomorrow. He ignored the nagging voice that was saying he was putting it off because he didn't even know what he wanted the conclusion to be and had no idea what to say. Again, it just seemed too tedious.

Remy left the office, head spinning with Thieves, angry women and politics when he passed a living room. He stopped in the doorway, the sight pausing him. Marie was laying on the long couch, one had holding the back of Claire who was asleep on her stomach. Despite his whirling headache, Remy smiled. Marie looked completely relaxed, perfectly at ease with the baby on her.

Remy's mind inexplicably began whirling. Maybe that's what he was feeling, a lack of fulfillment. Maybe what he needed was something else, something new. When was he going to start having children? He suddenly, desperately wanted one, or two or five. Remy clamped the lid on that subject. He'd never given kids or a family much thought, and an impulse over a beautiful woman and a sleeping baby was no reason to start.

He walked into the room, sitting on the ground by Marie's head. "Hey," she greeted softly.

"Salut," he said. "Mercy hasn't relieved you yet?"

"No. Apparently her 'thing' is going longer than expected," Marie said, smirking. "I was going to put Claire down in a minute."

"Sounds perfect," Remy agreed. "I'd like you to make a list of anyone who's been upset with out for any reason and we'll go over it tomorrow. Try to find out whoever the pansy is who is too afraid to kill you themself."

"Sure," she said, "I'll try."

"Bien," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow." He leaned over, lightly kissed Marie's forehead. Before he could see her surprised face, he swept out of the room. What had possessed him to do that? The entire thing seemed way too domestic to him. He shook his head, trying to regain his Remy LeBeau focus. Going to the bar tonight with Henri and Emil was exactly what he needed.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N So since you guys are so bloody awesome, I'm going to put another chapter up before Memorial Day weekend. Woohoo! Also…I'm procrastinating on a paper for one of my classes, so if anyone has an idea of an artist/musician, dancer etc. who you would consider a master of their craft and a piece of their work for me to analyze and write on, I am so open to suggestions.**

**Once again, thank you reviewers! It makes my day. Courtneykutie, crystalfeathers, Umbra8191, Reny21, annemariedarkhome, Chica De Los Ojos Café, Icelynne, bologna121, annacat721, Le26199, angel897 and Chellerbelle.**

**Chapter 5**

Remy groaned as he slowly became conscious the next morning, his hangover tap dancing against the inside of his skull. It only took half a second to realize he wasn't back at headquarters. Hell, he wasn't even at his apartment unless someone had snuck in and painted it pink since he'd been there last. He opened his eyes a little wider, taking in the pastel drapings and ballet slippers on the wall. Either he was in the presence of a dancer, or in the worst adult bedroom he'd ever seen. The one thing he knew for sure was this wasn't the home of Charlotte, Morgan or Katarina.

Rolling over, the other occupant of the bed came into view. She was facing the other direction, so all Remy could see was the smooth line of her bare back and the waterfall of deep brown hair pooling on the sheets. For one wild moment, he thought it was Marie, before coming to his senses. Marie was back at headquarters and even if she wasn't, he highly doubted she'd occupy a room with pink striped wall paper and ballet slippers.

The woman stirred, the late morning sun spilling through the halfway drawn curtains. She rolled over, splaying herself across his chest. He automatically wrapped an arm around her. She didn't have an ugly face by any means, but he was still suddenly uncomfortable. She snuggled in even closer. Remy was going to give it ten minutes, he figured that was enough time to not appear too rude as he left.

"Good morning," the woman said sleepily.

"Good morning to you," Remy answered.

"Last night was fun, I haven't seen you around Vaughn's before," she said.

Vaughn's? Oh, that was the name of the bar Henri and Emil had taken him to the night before. He shrugged as best he could with her laying halfway on him. "I've been there once or twice."

"Mm, you should come by more often."

Remy was saved of having to answer by the sound of a phone ringing. He leaned over, thankfully seeing his pants right next to the bed. He retrieved the ringing phone, never happier to see Henri's name on the caller ID.

"Oui?" he said in to the phone.

"_Remy,"_ Henri said, smile in his voice. _"Where'd you end up?"_

"Oh, that's not good. How badly didn't Francois screw it up?" he asked. He heard Henri chuckle. Francois was the code they used in conversations where they needed an out, whether it be a bad date or obnoxious business meeting.

"_That bad?"_ Henri asked.

"Tell him I'm going to whoop him within an inch of sanity," Remy said. Henri laughed harder.

"_Oh is she a three? As bad as that fille that looked like a potato?"_

"I'll be there as soon as I can," Remy promised. The woman next to him looked on with a mildly interested look as he hung up.

"Everything okay?" she asked.

"Work," he replied apologetically. "I have to go."

"Oh, okay," she said. She leaned over to the nightstand and wrote her name and number down while he dressed. She handed it over when he kissed her cheek goodbye.

"Au revoir, chère," he said.

"Give me a call sometime," she said with a smile. He saluted her and let himself out of the studio apartment. When he was in the hall, he glanced down at the pink paper she'd handed him. Huh, so her name was Amy. He tossed the paper into the first garbage can he saw on his way to his motorcycle.

Back at the LeBeau mansion, Marie had been up for hours training and reading. She was starting to get very bored. Her boss had called, saying he was sorry for the death in her family, a story Remy had concocted to explain her sudden absence. She even called Logan to chat for awhile before he had to go discipline some misbehaving students. Mercy and Henri were both out on 'business' and Remy had yet to show his face. Marie found herself lounging in her room, rereading a battered copy of Ray Bradbury's _The Illustrated Man._ She had a notebook in her lap, trying to think of people who would want her dead. Right now the only names on the list were _The Michelin Man (I popped one of his inflatable display men) _and _The United States' Government (I suck the life out of people)._

Around noon, a man poked his head into her room, knocking on the doorframe. "Marie?" he asked.

She looked up, setting the book down. "Yeah, that's me," she answered.

"I have a message from Remy LeBeau," he said. Marie sat up fully.

"Oh, okay, what is it?"

"He thinks he may have a lead on the person he called 'the client'. He eats lunch at a restaurant on the waterfront. I'm to take you there to meet Remy so the two of you can hide out and scout the restaurant in case you recognize him," he said.

"Who is he? What's his name?" Marie asked, standing.

"That's all he told me," the man said with an apologetic shrug. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, just give me a second," Marie said. She pulled on the new leather jacket and boots from Mercy and tied her hair back in an intricate knot that mostly hid her white streak, hoping to disguise herself as much as possible. She grabbed a pair of sunglasses to hide herself more and followed the younger man out the door. They used one of the Guild cars, speeding out of the gates so fast they barely had time to stop when the man at the gates yelled "Wait, Jason!"

The thief, Jason, skidded to a stop. "We're on Remy's orders, we need to leave right now," Jason said, talking in a very urgent voice. "This is life or death, come on!"

"Okay okay!" the other thief said, hastily opening the doors.

"Nice," Marie muttered.

They drove in near silence, Marie vaguely fearful of his driving. He was weaving in and out of traffic, making it into gaps that she could have sworn they'd never fit into. They made it to the restaurant in a half hour, a drive that would have taken her 45 minutes at the very least.

"Well if I'd eaten lunch already, you'd be wearing it," she said as she climbed out of the car. Jason the thief snorted. The restaurant was very beachy, a place that wouldn't look out of place in Miami. They walked through the wooden doors and up to the hostess.

"LeBeau, part of two," he said.

"Right this way." They followed the hostess who was wearing a coconut bra and sarong to an outdoor table. Jason held the chair out for her.

"Remy must not be here yet," he said. "I'll be back." He walked away quickly. Marie watched, suddenly having the worst sinking feeling. Remy wouldn't have kept her waiting and if he did, he's make sure the man he sent with her would stay with her. He'd set her up. Damn it, how could she have been so stupid? She ran back through the restaurant in time to see the car speeding away.

"Shit," she hissed. She didn't know if Jason was setting her up to be killed or not, but she had to assume so. Making a reservation under Remy's name was certainly going to draw attention. That meant she needed to get away from here. She turned and walked as fast as she could down the sidewalk away from the restaurant. She put her sunglasses on, hoping they'd make her harder to spot. Luckily, she had her cell phone with her. Not so luckily, she'd never gotten Remy's number and it wasn't like she could call information and as for the headquarters of the Thieves Guild. All she could do was hope Remy realized she was gone in time to come get her and in the meantime, just stay low.

She walked by a strip club and smirked slightly, walking in and taking a seat in the back corner. For now, she would stay here.

Across town, Remy had gone on a short pick pocketing spree to clear his head. His memories from the night before were hazy, but he couldn't remember anything bad about Amy, he'd certainly dated worse. They'd had a very good time together, yet when Remy thought about it, he had no desire to see her again. The hours of pick pocketing relaxed him some, so he made his way back to the headquarters.

His head was still slightly pounding (how much did he have to drink the night before?) when he pushed open the front doors, making his way to his office. Before he could make it three steps, Henri halfway leaning over the balcony's railing caught his attention. The panicked look made him nearly stop cold.

"Remy!" Henri said, running down the stairs two at a time. "You haven't been answering your phone!"

"I turned it off," he said with a frown. "What happened?"

"Marie's gone," Henri said somewhat breathlessly.

"What!"

"We looked over security footage and talked to the guard. Jason left with her," he said.

"Jason? Jason, scrawny, blond, mediocre thief Jason?" Remy asked.

"That's the one."

"Where is he?" Remy asked darkly. Henri led him to the safe room, specifically designed by thieves to be escape proof. Jason was sitting in the only chair, looking only mildly uncomfortable. He looked up as Remy and Henri entered.

"Jason, Jason, Jason," Remy tsked. "What have you done?"

"I don't know what you mean," Jason said.

"Well, you took Marie and aren't too surprised to be here so I think you do," Remy said.

"She wanted to leave," Jason said. "I just dropped her off at home."

"You're lying," Henri said, leaning on the door. "I sent someone to her apartment, there's been no one there recently."

"You're wrong," Jason said. He turned to Remy. "Looks like you're boring the bell fille."

Remy smiled and leaned over, patting the younger man's face. "Tell me where she is."

"Narnia," Jason said. Remy thrust his head away and walked back to Henri.

"Do you think he's working for Belladonna?" Henri asked.

"I doubt it," Remy answered. "He'd have run like hell. Treason, that. Which means he did it for a different reason."

"And he's not scared because he thinks either we can't or won't punished him," Henri finished.

"Damn," Remy sighed. "Damn politics. Aaron's fault probably." He turned and walked back to where Jason sat. "I'm going to give you one more chance to tell me. If you think Aaron can save you before I do some serious damage, you're seriously mistaken."

The twitch in Jason's eye at the mention of Aaron's name confirmed their suspicions. "I don't know what you mean," Jason said.

Remy threw a card at him, exploding tight next to the man's ear. Jason yelped. Remy threw another card, this on singeing his neck. A forceful explosion burned a hole right through the knee of his pants.

"Or, I could just blow those digits off. Won't be much of a thief without fingers," Remy said, raising a card.

"Okay, okay!" Jason said. "I look her to the Palm on the water!"

"And just left her there?" Remy asked. "She could be killed."

"Not my problem," Jason said. Remy had had enough. He threw a charged card right into the middle of Jason's chest. He flew backwards with the explosion before crashing to the ground.

"Keep him here," he said. "I'm going to find her!" He ran from the room to the garage, hopping in his fastest, most bulletproof car. He had Marie's number but was hesitant to use it. Any assassin worth their salt could tap in and hear their conversation, so he didn't want to call unless he had to or was reasonably close to her position. He made it to the restaurant, reasonably sure that he wasn't followed. Marie wouldn't have stayed there but he checked anyways just to be sure.

He jumped back in the car, driving slowly, looking for anything that might clue him in to her location. He stopped so fast that the car behind him nearly slammed right into him. Cops were converged around a strip club Remy had been to a few times. His stomach dropped. Please don't let the assassins have found her before him.

He parked in the alley and slipped in through the back entrance. The owner, Jacques, was busy talking with a cop, but Remy could tell he knew he was there. He stuck to the shadows until Jacques could come to him. His heart nearly stopped when he saw a body on the ground with the EMTs by the stage but he relaxed when she recognized it as a male form. The blood stains across the room were less comforting.

Jacques shook the officers off and retreated to the edge where Remy was hiding in the darkness. "Remy LeBeau," Jacques greeted him.

"What happened?" Remy asked.

"It was this pretty young thing, she came in and sat for an hour or so. Then that guy with the paramedics came in and it was like she just knew he was coming for her. By the time he'd drawn his gun, she'd already started moving."

"But he got her?" Remy asked, referring to the blood.

"In the arm," Jacques said. "She never stopped though. Threw a chair at him, knocked him right over. Before he could get up, she touched him and he just kinda froze, veins got all funny and when she let go, he just passed out. She ran out right after."

Well that certainly sounded like Marie's power to him. The EMT moved out of the way, showing the face of her patient. It was the same man who'd tried to kill her in the alley behind the bar. Remy vaguely wondered how many times Belladonna would send the same man to make the same mistakes.

"How long ago?" Remy asked.

"Twenty minutes I guess," Jacques said with a shrug.

"I owe you."

Jacques nodded as Remy shot out the door. He drove for a few minutes, silent except for the sound of his heart beating in his ears. His brain was running circles around him. He had no idea where Marie would go. If she were the average person, she'd run and keep running. But she wasn't the average person, she was smart and well trained. This didn't help though, he hadn't trained with her for this kind of event, he didn't know her style he- he slammed on the brakes for the second time in ten minutes.

He'd come to a stone bridge going over a river that fed into the waterfront. Two nights ago, Marie had been reading a book to Claire about a troll that lived under a bridge. She'd just smiled when he'd told her that the one year old didn't understand the story. She'd told him that wasn't the point, it was her favorite story when she was a kid, she'd even run away once and hid under a bridge once. She'd thought it'd be fun.

Remy parked the car and ran out, dashing down the steep embankment. He dodged boulders and slid the last few feet to the base of the bridge. Sure enough, she was leaning against the stone, knife drawn at the sound of him coming. Her face was ashen, her upper arm had a strip of cloth tied around it, stained red.

"Hey," she said, slipping the knife back into her boot. "Can't be too careful."

"Always carry a knife? He asked, rushing over. He knelt in front of her, checking her over for any other injuries.

"Absolutely," she said. She winced as he looked under her makeshift bandage.

"Looks like it went clear through," he said.

She nodded holding up the leather jacket with an entrance and exit hole. "Yeah. Mercy won't be happy."

"She'll be enraged. The assassins will never know what hit them," Remy said. He gently lifted her by the good arm, wrapping an arm around her for support. She was about to tell him she didn't need it when her legs buckled. She'd lost more blood than she'd though. Remy took more of her weight, practically carrying her up the hill back to his car. He sped away, rushing Marie back to headquarters where they had medical staff on call.

"Marie…" he called. Her eyes were dropping. Shit, he needed to keep her awake. "Marie, stay awake for me chère."

"Working on it," she mumbled. He reached across the car and grabbed her hand.

"Talk to me ma chèrie, keep talking to me," he pleaded.

"I am talking to you," she said. Her voice was getting weaker and weaker with each sentence. Almost as soon as he reached the front gates, she passed out.

"Merde." He slid to a stop at the front door, running to her door. He was in the house within 3 seconds, Marie scooped up in his arms.

"Hey!" he yelled out. He ran with Marie tucked protectively against his chest. Henri ran out from a hall, matching Remy's pace. They made it to the elevator that would take them two levels underground. Intellectually, Remy knew it was faster than the stairs but standing still felt just wrong.

"Is Dr. Renard here?" Remy asked, aching for the elevator door to open.

"Oui," Henri said, watching his brother warily. "I told him to be ready when you left, just in case."

"Bon…" As soon as the door opened, he was off, racing in to the infirmary. Henri was shocked, his brother normally blatantly refused to come here, no matter what the circumstances and here he barreled in without a second thought.

"Renard!" Remy called out. He laid Marie gently on the nearest table. The balding Renard appeared from the office.

"Dieu, what happened?" he asked.

"Shot in the arm, she's lost a lot of blood," Remy said.

"Yes," Renard answered, examining the wound. "I think it nicked an artery, it's a miracle she didn't bleed out. She needs a blood transfusion, so you know her blood type?"

"AB +," Henri said promptly.

"What a coincidence," Remy said, "so am I."

"Sit," Renard commanded. "I have no extra AB+ here so we need yours." Remy complied and the doctor immediately began to work. Luckily, all thieves were screened very often for any diseases so it was almost a guarantee that nothing would get transferred to Marie. Henri stared as Remy barely even winced as the needle entered his arm.

"How did you know she's AB+?" Remy asked.

"I hacked into Xavier's medical files when you left. You really should talk to Ororo about tightening their security," Henri said.

Remy smiled faintly. "I'll do that. Thank you Henri."

"Of course," Henri said. They watched as Renard scrambled to fix the wounded Marie. Remy's blood was still being pumped into Marie when Renard finished sewing her arm. The blood being taken from Remy was making him woozy, so Renard made him lay down on the table next to Marie's just in time for him to fade from consciousness.

Henri stood and left the infirmary for Jean-Luc's office where his father and Mercy were waiting.

"What happened?" Jean-Luc asked.

"Marie was shot. Renard is patching her up," Henri said.

"And he's down there? With her?" Mercy asked, well aware of Remy's hatred of anything related to hospitals.

"Oui," Henri confirmed. "He's hooked up to a tube, pumping his blood into her. He's even asleep now and is going to stay with her until she wakes up."

Mercy and Jean-Luc stared at Henri like he'd sprouted a second head.

"Will wonders never cease?" Mercy mumbled.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N It's officially Dead Week, so next week is finals. Therefore, I should absolutely not be posting anything, I should be finishing my papers on Respighi and my portfolio, yet here we are.**

**Chapter 6**

Marie woke up groggy, the familiar fuzzy feeling of morphine coursing through her. She turned her head to the side, taking in the sterile looking room around her. She tried to sit up and gasped at the sudden pain in her arm.

"Whoa chèrie, don't try to do too much too fast." Remy moved into her field of vision. "It's going to take awhile for you to heal all the way."

"Damn," Marie muttered.

"With a few months of physical therapy, you should be 100%," Remy said.

"Fantastic," she said. She looked up at the machines she was hooked up to. "Where am I?"

"In the mansion," Remy said. "We have a doctor on site, just in case."

"Your own hospital, lovely," Marie said with a smile.

"Dr. Renard is good at what he does," Remy promised.

"I'd expect nothing less from you," Marie said. She frowned at Remy's slightly uncomfortable expression. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Your phone was ringing nonstop and, er, it was Logan," Remy said.

Marie groaned. "Please tell me you didn't say I was shot."

"Of course I didn't!" Remy said. "Er, Henri did."

"What?"

"He said he was your father, played on Henri's daddy sympathy card," Remy said disgusted. He held out the phone to her. "I'd call him if I were you. He said and I quote, 'You have her call me when she makes up or I'll slice your ass into Cajun sushi'."

"Cajun sushi?" Marie asked. She sighed, dialing Logan's number.

"_Rogue, what the hell happened? Are you okay"_

"Logan, I'm fine, I promise," Marie said as calmly as possible.

"_Rogue. Tell me what happened or I swear…"_

"Okay, how much did Remy tell you?" Marie asked. Remy winced.

"_Remy? Remy LeBeau is who you're with? I talked to a guy named Henri!"_

"You know Remy?" she asked, a bit alarmed by the anger in his voice.

"_Don't sleep with him!"_

"What? I didn't!"

"_Well, don't! Now, tell me."_

"Fine," Marie said. "I was shot in the arm. Remy brought me to his doctor and he patched me up. Physical therapy and I should be fine."

"_Good. Who shot you?" _Marie hesitated. Logan growled. _"Rogue, what's going on?"_

"How'd you even find out? Why were you calling so much?" Marie asked defensively.

"_Do you really think Kitty wouldn't notice someone hack into your medical records? I knew something was wrong."_

"Kitty's a computer genius," Marie agreed.

"_Rogue, damn it, who shot you? You better tell me right now, kid," Logan said. _Marie groaned. He wasn't going to let this go. Better him to find out from here than get hurt trying to figure it out himself.

"It was an assassin," Marie said finally. Logan was silent for a beat.

"_Wanna run that by me again?"_

"There are assassins after me, we don't know why, but we're working on it," Marie said.

"_I'm coming down."_

"No, Logan."

"_I'll be there in a few hours."_

"Logan!" Click. "Damn it!"

"Let me guess, he's coming down?" Remy asked.

"Just how well do you know him?"

Remy shrugged. "Old friends."

"Well as soon as I said your name, he told me not to sleep with you," Marie said with a smirk. Remy burst into laughter.

"Sounds like Logan," Remy said. "Ready to get out of here?"

"God yes."

Remy called Dr. Renard in who disconnected her from all the various tubes and wires. Remy smirked when the blood was removed from the IV stand.

"That is 100% Remy LeBeau," he said.

"What?" Marie asked.

"I'm your blood donor," Remy said with a smirk. "You know what that means?" Marie looked at him blankly. "You've got some of me in you. We can make it more if you want."

"Oh god," Marie said, shaking her head.

"That's what you'll be screaming."

"If I wasn't shot…"

"I can give you a shot of-"

"Remy!"

He laughed. "You'll just have to lay hands on me later."

"Remy LeBeau, if I don't kick your ass, you know Logan will," Marie threatened.

Remy laughed. "He's always saying that. Come on, let's get you back to your room."

Remy walked her up the stairs to her room just in case she needed help. Fortunately, she was right back to her fiery self.

"So why'd Jason take me out and leave me there?" Marie asked after she settled herself into her bed.

"What did he tell you?" Remy asked.

"He said you ordered him to take me to meet you to check out a potential client," Marie said. She gave a half smile. "Stupid of me huh?"

"No chère, not at all," Remy said. "He's a thief, taught to be a liar."

"Why'd he do it?" Marie asked. "Is he working with the Assassins?"

"No, I don't think so," Remy said. "I think it's just political, internal politics." He kissed her forehead. "I'm going to have a chat with him not. I'll be back later."

"Good luck," Marie said. She reclined father, picking up her book. She'd barely read a sentence before a knock made her look up. Mercy was standing in the doorway holding a tray of food.

"Good morning," Mercy said with a smile. "I'm glad you're feeling better."

"Thanks," Marie said, sitting up. Mercy put the tray down on the bed and sat opposite of the other woman. "How long was I out?"

"About 14 hours," Mercy said. Marie's eyes widened slightly. "That sounds about right for being shot."

"I was just surprised," Marie said. "I've been hurt worse and walked away sooner."

"Maybe you're losing your edge," Mercy teased.

"Maybe," Marie said. "But I managed to knock out a trained assassin so I think I'm doing all right."

Mercy laughed and picked up an apple from Marie's tray. Marie munched on the fruit before making her way to the Belgian waffle.

"This is amazing, thank you," Marie said.

"Of course," Mercy said. She leaned forward. "So tell me. Did Remy really give blood to you? Voluntarily?"

Marie suddenly felt she was missing something. "Yeah he did…why?"

"Wow," Mercy said. "He stayed with you, too, for the whole time."

"Yeah, I guess so," Marie said with a shrug. "Why?"

"It's just…Remy hates hospitals," Mercy said. "He REALLY hates them, or anything to do with them. Needles, doctors, anything related. He won't even step foot down there."

"Oh," Marie said, slowly digesting this.

"But he didn't even think twice about running down there with you and he stayed with your for 14 hours," Mercy continued.

"Why?"

"Oh sweetie, do you really need to ask?"

In another part of the building, Remy was about to start interrogating Jason the thief. He didn't much relish the thought of torture, in fact he absolutely hated it, but everyone's lives were at stake. If Jason wouldn't talk, Remy knew he'd have to resort to drastic measures. He was about to enter the room when his phone rang. Relieved, he answered.

"Oui, Henri?"

"_Another call from Belladonna, you might want to come up here," Henri said._

Remy closed his phone with a sigh of relief. He made his way to the conference room, deeply amused that he was relieved to hear from Belladonna.

Just as last time, Belladonna was displayed on the giant screen. She was dressed in all black, her blonde hair tied back.

"Remy…"

"Bonjour Belladonna," Remy said pleasantly. "What can we do for you today?"

Belladonna held up a sheet of paper. "What the hell is this?"

Remy moved forward to read it, then burst into laughter. "It looks to me like a bill for the jacket Marie was wearing yesterday," Remy said jovially.

"It's for $500!" Belladonna said.

"It was a nice jacket," Remy said. "Your man did shoot a hole through it. That was rude."

Belladonna threw the bill down. "Cut the crap, Remy," she said. "The cops almost had our man in custody, we had to smuggle him out of the hospital."

"Your assassin's incompetence is not my problem," Remy said. "Though I'm surprised you let him try again, giving him a chance to redeem himself?"

Belladonna smiled slightly. "We almost had her," she said.

"Almost doesn't count," Remy said cheerily.

Belladonna glared. "Until next time." The image of her disappeared as she disconnected.

Remy turned to Henri. "Your wife sent a bill to the Queen of the Assassins for a leather jacket?"

Henri grinned. "I married that woman for a reason."

Remy laughed. "I'll have to send her a fruit basket or something." Henri laughed, too.

"You know what, I think we should bring Père in on talking to Jason," Henri said.

"Hm, I like it," Remy said. "I've seen him make bikers piss their pants."

"Bon."

Jean-Luc met them at the safe room. "What do you know, the boys need their father after all," he said. He straightened his tie. "Wait here." He turned and entered the safe room.

Remy and Henri waited outside. After ten quiet minutes, they were starting to get a little worried. The room wasn't soundproof, if there was any violence going on, they'd have heard it. Henri checked his watch.

"Should we go in?" Henri asked uncertainly. Before Remy could open his mouth to answer, the door opened and Jean-Luc emerged.

"Jason was acting under the orders of Aaron, not the assassins," he said. "They have a small group of our thieves believing us LeBeaus aren't running the Guild correctly."

"Aaron's running this?" Henri asked.

So it would seem," Jean-Luc said.

"And the point of getting Marie out into the open?" Remy asked.

"I assume as a peace offering to the Assassins," Jean-Luc said. "And if the rest of the Guild sees us as getting her killed, we lose credibility and Aaron earns sympathizers."

"Looks like we need to speak to Aaron more in depth," Henri said.

"According the Jason, he's still here. He wants to stay in the light assuming he can take control if we slip. He was foolish enough to think Jason would stay loyal," Jean-Luc said. "Go talk to him."

Remy and Henri found Aaron in one of the planning rooms available to Guild members. He glanced up as they entered.

"And what can I do for Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumbass?" he asked.

"I am only going to ask once," Remy said, standing in front of the doorway. "We know you made Jason lure Marie out and that you're trying to move against us."

"Is there a question in there somewhere?" Aaron asked, standing as well.

"Why?" Remy demanded.

"Because," Aaron hissed, face barely inches away from Remy's. "Keeping Marie here is equal to an act of war against the Assassins! I will not let the recklessness of your family plunge us into another bloody war!"

"So you'll set her up to get killed instead? You're nothing more than a half assed assassin," he snapped back. He spoke to Henri without taking his eyes off the man in front of him. "We'll put him in chains until we figure out what to do with him."

Henri grabbed one arm and Remy took the other. Aaron twisted, trying to run. Remy threw a charged card and it hit. Aaron flew into the wall, falling to the base, unconscious. Remy and Henri hauled the man into the safe room, chaining him up tightly.

"Better go talk to Marie," Henri said.

"We're lucky she wasn't there when we talked to Aaron," Remy said. "She probably would have kicked him in the face."

Remy was right about Marie's reaction when he told her about Aaron.

"They want me dead because of POLITICS?" she asked. "Over Guild politics? I'm so going to kick his ass!"

"Relax chère, we have him locked in chains," Remy assured her.

"You're all trained for this kind of thing," she reminded him. "Won't he get out?"

"There's a reason he's still a lower level thief," Remy said.

"Asshole," Marie muttered. "I should shoot him in the arm, see how he likes it."

"Probably should," Remy said. Marie exhaled sharply and leaned back against the headboard.

Remy situated himself across from her. She took deep breaths calming down. Remy smiled to himself. She was frightening while injured, he imagined if she got fired up when she was at full strength, she'd be scary as hell.

"So," she said. "Big day for you, mutiny and all."

"Yeah," Remy said with a snort. "Great."

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Remy asked, head cocked to the side. "For what?"

"This is all because of me, if I hadn't…"

"No," Remy interrupted her. "Tensions are always strained. Aaron would have found another reason if it wasn't you. You're…a cog in a political machine."

"Yeah I know," she said. "Still."

They stayed quiet for a few minutes before Marie spoke again. "Thanks for saving me, you know, again."

"My pleasure," Remy said with a slight bow.

"Mercy said you hate hospital," she said. Remy's face became carefully blank. "So thank you for staying with me anyways."

Remy nodded. "You're still welcome. Did Mercy tell you why?"

"No," Marie said. "And I didn't ask. I was going to ask you if you feel like telling me." Remy was silent and Marie knew she'd pushed things too far. "I'm sorry, it's none of my business, I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, it's okay, you didn't mean any harm," Remy said. "It's…I was experimented on years ago. Mutants make interesting subjects."

"Oh god," she said, wincing. "I'm sorry." She put a hand on his knee, not knowing how much, if any, physical contact he was oaky with. He wrapped his hand over hers where they rested on his leg.

"It gave me a healthy distaste for clinical settings," Remy said.

"I don't blame you," Marie answered.

He squeezed her hand and leaned forward. Marie's heart sped up to an alarming rate, for a brief second thinking he was going to kiss her. At the last second, he diverted his mouth to her cheek.

"Get some rest," he said and left the room. Marie swallowed, trying to get her heart beat under control and wondering she was feeling so disappointed.

She'd almost managed to get to sleep when her door flew open. She jolted up, immediately reaching under her pillow for the six inch knife and held it in front of her. She breathed out and lowered the knife when she saw it was Logan in the doorway. His face was enraged.

"Logan…"

In two steps, Logan crossed the room and pulled her into a fierce hug. Shocked, Marie didn't move for a moment, completely taken aback before hugging him. He stayed like that for awhile before letting her go. Remy was standing behind Logan with his eyebrows up looking highly amused.

"You okay, kid?" he asked, looking her up and down.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered.

Logan held out his free hand. "Come on, take some healing magic." Marie smiled gratefully and grabbed his hand, absorbing him for a few seconds. She let go with a sigh of relief, the hole in her arm closing up.

"Thanks," she said.

"No problem. Now tell me, what the hell have you been doing for the past year and a half?" Logan demanded.

Marie shrugged. "Stuff," she said. "Living."

"You've gotta do better than that," he said.

"You run off with no explanation all the time, why can't I?" Marie demanded.

"It's different."

"Why, because I'm a woman?"

"I didn't say that," Logan said.

"Uh huh," Marie said.

"Tell me what's going on," Logan said.

"Before Marie was hot, she was going to get a list of anyone who might hold a grudge against her," Remy said. "But she was a bit distracted."

"How do we know it's not someone doing this because of you?" Logan growled.

"Mon ami, I stumbled upon someone trying to kill her. I saved her, the girl you described as your daughter. So please relax, I did a good thing, yes?" Remy said. Logan just glared.

"All Remy has done is help me," Marie said.

"If I find out you had anything to do with this…" Logan threatened.

"I know, dismemberment, yes?" Remy finished. "Come on Mr. Sharpy Fingers, let's find you a room."

"You got ahead and do that, I'm going to catch up with Rogue," Logan said.

"There's not much to talk about," Marie said, almost defiantly.

"Rogue, you've been gone for over a year and a half," Logan said. "Something must have happened. You don't just do nothing for 19 months."

"I just drifted, Logan," Marie said vaguely. Remy was surprised that Logan was pushing a subject that Marie was obviously trying to close. But then again, Remy never knew Logan to possess an abundance of finesse. "Really, I just needed some time wandering." Marie's voice was polite and quiet, but Remy recognized the warning threads of anger.

"Rogue, I know that with Matthew…"

"Stop it!" Marie yelled. "Just stop. We aren't going to talk about that."

"Marie," Logan tried.

"No, Logan, just…no," Marie said, shaking her head. "Just go with Remy, okay?"

"Come on mon ami, let me get you a room, you'll just be a few doors down," Remy said. He guided Logan out of the room, quietly closing the door behind him. As soon as Marie heard the latch click, she pulled her knees up to her chest and began to silently cry.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N Finals are over! Life goes on!**

**Thank you again reviewers, piratearrow, musician'sluck2010, Reny21, Celeste Genevieve, annemariedarkhome, angel897, Icelynne (I love your name by the way), courtneykutie, Chica De Los Ojos Café, VampyerLover, Sharky237, annacat271, Chellerbelle and Umbra8191.**

**Chapter 7**

Remy dropped Logan off at his room, promising he'd come get him whenever they started talking attempted murder. He made his way back to Marie's room, knocking on the door lightly. When there was no response, he opened it, quietly slipping in. Marie was sitting on the end of her bed, legs against her chest and her face buried in her knees. Her shoulders were shaking violently though she was hardly making a sound.

Remy crossed the room, sitting next to her. He wrapped her up in his arms. She unfolded herself and molded against him, letting him hold her. Wet stains dropped onto his shirt, soaking through. Her body gave a great shudder against him. He ran his hands over her back, speaking softly in that soothing, low French.

After a good few minutes, the sobbing stopped and she sat up, wiping her red eyes. She pulled away, taking a deep breath. Remy left a hand on her back, running a hand in circles.

"Sorry about that," she said, voice soft. "I'm not normally a crier."

"That, I believe," Remy said. She smiled lightly.

"I've uh, just haven't really had to talk about it for a year and a half," Marie said, playing with her hands. "So when Logan brought it up, it was just a shock."

"It's understandable," Remy said. "Do you want to tell me about it?"

Marie sighed. She was silent for awhile before speaking. "We were training one afternoon when this guy came. A mutant, his name was Matthew. He joined the team, he was a good fighter, he could control water.

"We started dating after a few months. He was with me even before I got control of my powers. He really cared about me, you know? And I cared too, a lot. He was great, we were great.

"But uh, one day we had to go on a mission. There was a bad guy and all that. They captured and tortured Matthew. We…we didn't get there in time, I blamed the X-Men, they moved slowly. When we got there, Matthew was already dead."

Marie didn't so much as shed a single tear. Remy just looked at her, waiting for her to go on.

"I left the next day. I stayed in contact with Logan or else he'd tear the damn country apart trying to find me," Marie said. Remy continued rubbing her back. "I'm not…I'm not still totally hung up on it, but it still hurts and Logan blindsided me."

"No need to explain chère, believe me I understand." Remy said. "What happened to the bad guy?"

Marie looked at him square in the eye. "He died."

Remy appraised her before saying, "I'm glad we're not enemies."

"I just, I want to get some sleep, can we figure it out in the morning?" Marie asked.

"Of course. Desolé about Matthew. Goodnight." With a kiss on the cheek, he was gone.

Marie stood and stared into the mirror across from her bed, putting on her most defiant face.

"That's enough," she said. "No more. What's done is done." This was her life and god damn it, she was going to fight for it.

Marie woke the next morning to Remy violently shaking her bed. "What the hell?"

"Wakey wakey," Remy said cheerily. "Come down to breakfast, then it's time to save your life."

Marie groaned and rolled out of bed, taking her time to get ready. She made it down in ten minutes to see the LeBeaus already eating.

"No Logan?" she asked, sitting down.

"Do you really think I'm dumb enough to wake up the Wolverine?" Remy asked.

Marie laughed. "Fair point. Though it would be amusing to see you try."

"Speaking of amusing," Remy said turning to Mercy. "You sent a bill for Marie's damaged jacket to the queen of the Assassins?" Marie gave a surprised laugh and Henri and even Jean-Luc smirked.

Mercy raised her chin. "That was a very expensive jacket." Remy, Henri and Marie burst into laughter.

"You just may make me proud yet," Remy joked.

When they finished eating, Remy and Marie braved the task of waking Logan to work on what Remy called her 'little assassin problem'. They sat down to hash it out when Marie started feeling the familiar overwhelming sensation.

"I don't know!" Marie said, running a hand through her hair. "I can't think of anyone. I really didn't talk to anyone or anything like that until I left but..oh…ohh…"

"What is it?" Remy asked.

"There's uh, there's one man who might be a little pissed at me…"

"Who?" Logan asked.

"His name is George Madison. He's a rich old guy that scammed a lot of elderly people out of their money," Marie explained. "I may have stolen a motorcycle from him on my way down here and may have accidentally set his house on fire."

"Angering, yes," Remy said. "But motive for murder though I have seen people kill for less."

"He uh, he may have caught on fire when he tried to run back in for his Lamborghini," Marie said.

"Ah," Remy said. "Well that might do it."

"Yep," Marie said. "It was a complete accident."

"I never doubted that," Remy said. "So the easiest way to do this is simple-"

"We gut him," Logan said.

"Okay, the simplest not disgusting way to do this is simple," Remy continued, "is to break in and find a record of him hiring Guild services or something to blackmail him with. I'll scout it out tonight and we'll go in a day or so."

"Simple," Logan said with a snort."

"I'm going with you," Marie said.

"Non, chère."

"Like hell you are, kid."

"Okay, A, do I really seem like the kind of girl that stands on the sidelines while the big tough men save me? B, I've already broken into his house so I know a basic way around and C, he's not likely to have assassins at his house waiting to kill me and he's a weak burn victim, so not exactly very dangerous," Marie said defiantly.

"Hm," Remy said thoughtfully. "It has merits. You are very good in combat. Plus in the worse case he sees you, it might shock him into making a mistake."

"What?" Logan said. "You're actually considering this?"

"It's not a bad idea. And I don't think she's going to give up on the idea," Remy said.

"Kid, you're staying here and that's final," Logan ordered.

Marie's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I am going Logan. If you try to stop me I swear I'll absorb you and knock you out for a week," she threatened. He stared at her. "I'll do it Logan, you know I will."

Remy stared gleefully between Marie and Logan. Logan gaped like a fish, Marie smirked triumphantly.

"Well that settles that," Remy said, laughter seeping into his voice.

When it was well and truly dark, Remy left to scout George Madison's house. He was pleasantly surprised to see that his security system was three years old. Remy smiled to himself. Easy peasy.

Remy spent most of the next two days going over every possible detail of the house, planning for any situation. Marie didn't always quite understand what he was doing, but deeply admired his attention to detail nonetheless. Logan had insisted on coming with once Marie was going, so Remy had him posted as a sentry at a rallying point in case he and Marie got separated. When Logan asked why he wasn't going in with them. Remy said "This is a thing of finesse. You, you're clunky."

That night, they drove on motorcycles to the small suburb two hours away where Madison lived. They had to park over a mile away and sneak their way up to the huge sprawling lawn. Remy disconnected the alarm and lock to the gates easily and they swept in. Logan disappeared into the darkness off to find his post. Remy pulled out a pair of gloves and handed them to Marie. She eyed them with distaste.

"Fingerprints," he whispered.

She slipped them on and followed him to the back of the huge house where he let him in a window that wasn't properly secured. They crept down the hallway to Madison's office, Remy actually quite impressed at Marie's level of stealth. It wasn't that of a professional thief, but he could work with her on that.

Remy dropped to his knees to work on the lock of the office door. It was actually a little tricky, taking him nearly four extra seconds. They cautiously entered the office, spotting the safe next to the desk.

Remy felt the pressure trigger underfoot the instant he stepped on it. If Marie hadn't been there, he'd have cursed violently. As it turned out, he didn't have time to anyways, a shock of light fell around him, at the same time as a wailing alarm pierced the silence. Remy tried to touch the light but it painfully zapped him away.

"Energy cage," he yelled over the alarm. "Go, now!"

"No!" Marie yelled back.

"There isn't time for this, go now!"

"I'm not leaving you!" Marie insisted.

"Hell no you aren't! Go get Logan and bust me out!" Remy said. "Marie, get out now!"

Marie ran to the window and with a few well placed kicks shattered the thick glass. She was halfway through when with a cry, Madison flew into the room. Like Remy predicted, he froze in shock when he saw her on the window sill. Marie did the only thing she could think of, she gave him a wink and swung out the window and out of sight. Madison turned to his captive intruder. With a cruel smile, he took a remote from his pocket. The first button he hit turned the deafening alarm off. The second sent a tremendous shock through the blue cage, knocking Remy out.

Marie dashed off of the grounds, meeting Logan a block away. As soon as he smelt the adrenaline laced fear, he knew something was wrong.

"What is it?" he asked as soon as she was close.

"He has Remy," she said breathlessly. "There was an energy shield thing. I couldn't get him out! He told me to come get you, he said-"

"It's okay kid," Logan interrupted. "I get it."

"I can't leave him," she said. "He's not going to die because of me." She leaned over the bag at Logan's feet and drew a sheathed dagger from it. She strapped it to her leg and pulled her hair back. She fixed Logan with a hard look. "I am not losing anyone else."

Logan stared right back. "Good. Let's go get him."

When Remy woke sometime later, he was no longer in Madison's office. He was in a small square room. The walls were concrete and there was a drain in the middle of the room. He had a sudden sickening feeling. He'd been in rooms like this, it was a torture chamber. Just what kind of person had Marie ticked off? Remy was chained to the wall, unable to move even an inch. If he tried to blow off the chains, odds were he'd be deader than disco.

Madison walked in the door facing Remy, the little remote in his hands. He glared at him. Remy had no time to prepare before Madison hit the button. Electricity surged through Remy's body, jolting him harder into the wall. Just as abruptly, it was over. Madison, in his nice, clean suit, came to stand next to him.

"Now," he said. "Who are you? Why are you here?" Madison demanded.

"George Clooney," Remy said promptly. "Here for vacation."

Madison shocked him again. Remy gritted his teeth involuntarily.

"Why are you here with that woman?"

"That's Catherine Zeta-Jones. We did a movie together, you see…"

Another zap of electricity.

"Tell me what your purpose is here!" Madison demanded again. He held the button longer this time. Remy was sure that his brain was going to become nothing more than mush.

"Okay, I'll tell you!"

"Yes?"

"You have to promise not to tell!"

"What is it?" Madison growled.

"I'm…I'm a super secret agent here to find the hidden bikini models, your tyranny had ended!"

The electric shock this time was even longer. Remy wondered if this was how he was going to die, writhing in some old man's basement. He was about ready to pass out when the pain stopped. He opened a heavy eye to see Logan standing over the broken down door. Marie ran in, landing a well placed kick to Madison's temple. He went down hard in an unconscious heap. Logan sliced through Remy's chains like they were nothing.

"Come on, we gotta go, more are coming," Marie said. She halfway hauled Remy out of the room before with a grunt, he lost consciousness. Logan threw him over his shoulder and they fled Madison's property back to where they'd parked.

Getting Remy onto a motorcycle was no easy task. Eventually Logan unceremoniously strapped the other man to his back and sped off. Remy was conscious by the time they made it back to the Guild's headquarters, but only barely. He refused point blank to go to the infirmary and only agreed to let Dr. Renard see him when Marie threatened to have Logan drag him down there. He was cleared and told to rest for a few days but Renard was confident he'd be fine.

Marie knocked on Remy's door when Renard left. She cautiously made her way to the bed, sitting on the edge. Remy raised an eyebrow at his apprehension.

"Are you okay?" she asked finally.

"Of course," he said immediately. "It'll take more than that to hurt me. Believe me chère, I've had a lot worse."

"Oh good. Well, not good, you know what I mean," she said.

"I do. It's okay, really," he assured her. "That was a nice kick by the way."

"I should have killed him," Marie said ruefully. ""I didn't even think of it, I just wanted to get you out."

"I'm glad you did," Remy said, wrapping his fingers around hers. "There's no shame in not wanting to be a killer."

She smiled. "Thanks."

It took Remy about an hour to fall asleep. Marie sat with him the whole time, feeling it was wrong to leave him the whole time, feeling it was wrong to leave him when it was her fault he was there in the first place. Exhausted, she fell asleep not long after, curled against the side of his body. They lay like that for hours until the next morning, the crash of his opening door startling them awake.

"Injured or not, I told you not to sleep with him!" Logan growled.

Marie sat up straighter, moving her head off Remy's chest. His hand grazed down her arm, resting on her hip. "True, but you meant not to have sex with him. If you'd like me to do that instead of sleep with him…"

Logan glared and stormed out, muttering something about bad Cajun influences. Remy snorted with amusement and pulled Marie back down to finish sleeping.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N Some of you commented that the last chapter was a little rushed and I agree with you, I just had a little bout of writer's weirdness.**

**I love you reviewers, UnseenAngel17, Chica De Los Ojos Café, Sharky237, Saint of the Sinners, crystalfeathers, Icelynne, Annacat721, Celeste Genevieve, Umbra8191, angel897, Fire Makes Me Smile, and the lovely Chellerbelle.**

**Chapter 8**

Belladonna wasn't one for useless extravagance, but for her main office where she met with her council members, she indulged a bit. The walls were adorned with rich colored silk, mostly purples and golds, giving it a regal kind of look. She was well aware that sometimes when she was in the room her harsh clothing contrasted with the elegant royal look of the room, making her look particularly fierce. She was just fine with that.

A man ran into the office, rushing to her desk. She raised her eyebrows at his hurry. Normally people knocked on her door and she wasn't accustomed to people barging in.

"We have a problem," he said breathlessly. Belladonna vaguely wondered if he'd run up the entire spiral staircase to her office.

"Yes?" she asked.

He set the laptop he was holding down on her desk and opened an audio file. "This was left on the voicemail of one of our contact lines," the sweating man explained and hit the play button.

"I paid you people to do a job. Marie D'Ancanto was no longer supposed to be a thorn in my side. I'm going to the police if you don't refund my money. I will destroy you and your incompetence will be punished." The man's voice was angry and loud, a threat made in the heat of the moment.

Belladonna's face grew cold. "That's George Madison?" she half asked. The man nodded. She stood from her desk and paced around the regal room, a force of anger in the midst of the beauty. "It seems we have a security risk," she said finally. Her eyes were blazing and bright.

"Yes ma'am," the man agreed quietly.

"Punish us," she scoffed under her breath. She turned back to the man. "You may go, I'll handle this."

The man nearly ran, grateful to get away from the anger ridden woman before him. Belladonna swept to her desk, a trail of rage in her wake. She picked up the phone.

"Gris-Gris. It's Belladonna," she said shortly. "I have a job for you."

* * *

><p>Remy woke late in the afternoon, body still recovering from the electric shocks of the previous day. He smirked to see that Marie was asleep on her stomach next to him. Marie stirred a few minutes later, rolling over until she was lying on her back, right next to him.<p>

"Good afternoon," he greeted. She smiled slightly. He almost expected some emotional conversation to start but as usual she surprised him.

"I'm hungry," she said. "I'll meet you downstairs in ten minutes."

He stared as she walked out the door. This woman, he thought.

He met her downstairs fully dressed. They ate in comfortable silence. Remy successfully managed to hide his small winces when movement was too much. Logan popped in when they were almost done. He seemed to be in stark denial of the fact that Marie had slept in Remy's bed last night.

"I think the next move is obvious," he said without any preliminaries. "We need to kill Madison. No client means no contract, simple."

Marie shifted uncomfortable. "I know," she said finally. "I just…don't want to."

"You don't have to," Logan said. "I'm more than okay with taking care of this for you, kid."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "No, I can't ask you to do that."

"Marie…" Remy said.

"I don't ask people to do things that I'm not willing to do myself," she said.

"Valiant way to live," Remy said. "But I'd rather you not do something that's going to hurt you."

"It might not be a problem," Henri said. They turned and he walked in. He tossed the day's paper down in front of Remy who immediately grabbed it.

He read them the article and Henri sat down. "George Madison, 66, was found dead in his Louisiana home this morning. It appears that Madison committed suicide, a bottle of sleeping pills was found empty beside him. He left a note explaining he had developed a guilty conscious over his various fraud scams as well as a list of prostitutes he regularly sought company with. He leaves an ex-wife of over 15 years." Remy looked up at them.

"Son of a bitch," Logan muttered. "Suicide?"

"Not likely," Remy scoffed. "There are many ways to fake a suicide, the question is why?"

"We may not have to wait for that, either," Henri said. "We have another communication from Belladonna."

"And you left her waiting?" Remy asked, highly amused.

"Oui," Henri said cheerily. "Just good fun."

"Good fun," Marie said, shaking her head. "You people like some strange things."

"Of course," Remy said. "You'd think I was crazy if I was normal."

"I think you're crazy as is," Marie muttered.

"Well I shouldn't keep the illustrious murderer waiting," Remy said and went to the conference room. Henri stood silently in the dining room with Logan and Marie. Marie coughed. After a few moments, Henri cleared his throat and jerked his head toward the door. They followed Henri until they were outside the conference room. "Thin walls," he mouthed, sticking his ear to the wood. With a grin, Marie followed suit, Remy's voice clearly audible.

Remy was pretty sure Henri was outside the door but he didn't particularly care. If he cared about privacy during calls with Belladonna, he'd have gotten rid of that door long ago.

"Belladonna," he greeted. The image on the screen was of Belladonna dressed in black in the royal looking room. Her face was carefully blank. "Killing your own clients, now that must be bad for business."

"It tends to be," Belladonna said, very nearly testily. "It sees he'd had a few visitors lately. They broke into his house."

"Did they?" Remy asked blandly.

"Yes, I asked myself who would know about this? And I thought, Remy knows everything the Thieves do," Belladonna said.

"Well if someone did break into his house, and he tortured the one breaking in, I must say I'm not sorry he's dead," Remy said darkly. There was a pause.

"Torture?" she asked.

"Oui," Remy said.

"I'm sorry about that. Nothing we knew of him pointed to that," she said. She was still being professional but the tone turned more cordial and friendly.

"Us either," Remy said. "He was too good at hiding his tracks, though we did manage to find record that he sexually enjoyed things in the darker range."

"Oh Remy, you and I both know some bondage never hurt anyone," Belladonna said.

"Of course not," Remy said. "There is nothing wrong with BDSM, it's a very legitimate human desire. He enjoyed the things far to the violent and bloody side."

"We need to examine some of our gathering techniques," Belladonna said darkly.

"As do we," Remy said. "So what happened?"

"It seems we had a security breach," Belladonna said. Remy recognized that as code for 'jerk threatened to go to the cops'. Remy had had to deal with that problem once or twice himself. Normally the nature of the relationship between the Guilds and their clients afforded them a certain level of assurance against the cops. Going to the police would only implicate the client as well. Nevertheless, nothing was sure, so both Guilds were accustomed to running deep checks into who they took jobs from.

"That's too bad," Remy said.

"It was. It lost us a contract," Belladonna said. "Oh and because that's your fault, you owe us $15,000."

"$15,000? Somewhat underpriced for you, though I guess considering your man failed twice, you get what you pay for," Remy said. "And here I thought it was Mercy who was charging you for that jacket you ruined."

"Fine, $14,700," Belladonna said.

"Sorry Belle," he said cheerily. "If you can't get the job done, it's from not trying hard enough. I am not fiscally responsible for your failures."

Belladonna's eyes narrowed. "I could always still take her out."

"Well that's just irresponsible," Remy said smoothly, swallowing down the panic at the idea. "You don't have a client anymore."

"She is a threat now as well," Belladonna said musingly.

"She knows about us as well," Remy said. "I'm careful of who I discuss Guild business with. It was you who worked with a security risk."

Belladonna glared. "Is she under your Guild's umbrella of protection?" she asked.

Remy hesitated. That could get messy potentially. Hypothetically, Belladonna could insist Marie be there whenever the two Guilds had events or meetings together. He wasn't sure he wanted to drag her in farther into this world then necessary, but it was the best way to keep her safe. "Oui," he said finally. "She is."

Belladonna sighed. "Sleeping with her Remy, really?"

"Surprisingly no," Remy said. "Not that you'd believe me."

"You're right, I don't," she said. "You owe me $15,000, Remy."

"Good luck with that."

"Goodbye Remy."

"Until next time Belle."

Remy sighed as Belladonna blinked out. All things considered, it hadn't gone that bad. He opened the door, fully expecting to see Henri, Logan and Marie but the hallway was empty. In fact, when he found them, they were all playing pool.

"Crafty," he said, walking in.

"I don't know what you mean," Marie said. "How'd it go?"

"Like you don't know," he said with a smile. "Come with me."

Marie followed silently, confused. Logan ignored them and continued to focus on his game with Henri.

"Where are we going?" Marie asked when he took her to his car.

"Well you're free now chère," Remy said. "You can do anything. Where do you want to go?"

Marie looked at him thoughtfully, then a slow smile spread over her face. "I don't know, I could do anything I suppose."

"Staying in New Orleans?" he asked.

"I'm thinking about it."

"Well you've been cooped up in this house for over a week, want to start with going out to dinner?" Remy asked.

"I think I can handle that," she said.

Remy took Marie out to a night on the town. She had to admit, it was nice to see the more expensive parts of New Orleans rather than just waitressing in a seedy bar. Remy brought her back to her apartment later, checking it over to make sure the assassin hadn't left any surprises. As he made his way to the door, he promised to come by the next day with a better door lock. She stood in the doorway facing him.

"Thank you again. So much. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you," she said.

Remy smirked. He reached out and traced her jaw, fingers grazing her neck. He cupped her face with his hand. Marie's skin was fire where he touched her and he leaned her cheek into his hand. He leaned in closer, nose brushing hers. His breath was hot against her lips.

"I think I could stay in New Orleans for awhile," she whispered against him.

"Mm," he breathed. "Good."

And suddenly he was gone, back in the doorway. "Until tomorrow, ma chèrie." He kissed her hand and with a smile, left. Marie grinned as she closed the door. New Orleans was turning out to actually be a good city.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N Thank you reviewers, Yodes, crystalfeathers, Celeste Genevieve, UnseenAngle17, Chica de Los Ojos Café, angel897, Umbra8191, annacat721, Chellerbelle, and Icelynne.**

**Chapter 9**

Marie spent her first few free days out enjoying New Orleans, but eventually she ended up back at her apartment, happy to just be able to relax in her own space without worrying about assassins trying to murder her. Logan was still in New Orleans, not quite ready to leave her, just in case. Her boss was glad to have her back, apologized for the loss in her family (the cover story Remy had concocted) and sent her right back to work. No sympathy apparently.

Remy visited a few times, once producing a bouquet of roses. Logan had growled the next day when he smelled Remy's scent on the flowers.

"I told you not to sleep with him!" Logan growled.

"What, because he brought me flowers that means we're sleeping together?" Marie demanded.

"Usually!"

Marie shook her head. "Logan, sometimes I feel bad for Storm. Do you really only give her flowers when you have sex?"

Logan glared.

About a week after she got back into her routine, Remy took her out again, though this time accompanied by Henri and Mercy.

"Marie!" Mercy exclaimed at the restaurant, hugging the other woman. "This was supposed to be our night on the town but this one," she punched Remy's arm, "seems to think he owns a monopoly on your time."

"Finders keepers," Remy said smugly. "And I found her."

"I'm feeling like a toy being fought over again," Marie said.

Henri smirked. "While the children squabble, would you like to come to the bar with me and grab a drink?" he asked. Marie smiled gratefully and followed him to the bar, leaving Mercy and Remy to their argument. "You know I'm surprised you still spend time with Remy."

"Why's that?" Marie asked. They gave their order to the bartender.

"Well you see, most people would avoid us after two or three near death experiences," Henri said.

Marie shrugged. "I guess I'm just not as smart as most people," she said.

"Or you're falling under the Cajun spell," Henri said mysteriously.

Marie leaned closer and said quietly, as if whispering a secret," Do you want to know how well your brother kisses? There's this thing he does with his tongue…"

"Eurgh!" Henri said, jerking his head back. Marie laughed. They received their drinks, Marie raising an eyebrow when Henri was presented a bright pink fruity drink. He swore up and down it was for Mercy. Marie just gave him a look that clearly said she didn't believe him for a second and they made their way back to Mercy and Remy who apparently were done arguing.

"Henri, why do you always drink that fruity monstrosity?" Mercy asked. Marie burst into laughter. Henri glared, muttering something about women being traitors.

"We settled that I have dibs on Marie," Remy said.

"If by 'Marie' you mean whatever blow up doll you want to name Marie, yes, by all means go crazy," Mercy snapped.

Henri looked at Marie and sighed dramatically. "It's sad when we're the mature ones." Marie gave a snort of laughter just as a man in a perfect tuxedo came to them announcing the LeBeau table was ready.

The restaurant was crowded but not cramped, they managed to have a table that was private. The decorations were lavish and Marie wondered how much it would cost before pushing the idea from her mind. No matter how much she protested, Remy insisted she save the money she earned from waitressing and that he'd pay for dinner. Considering how little was in her bank account, she didn't fight too hard all the time. She'd blanched at the prices on the menu but Remy firmly told her to ignore them and focus on the descriptions.

Despite Remy's claim that he had dibs on Marie, she spent most of the evening in conversation with Mercy. Henri was very pleased with this. He hated that his wife felt alone without any female friends. Marie was breath of fresh air for her. Remy, much to Henri's surprise and appreciation, let Mercy suck up Marie's attention.

After Henri halfheartedly wrestled Remy for the bill, he and Mercy left, Mercy promising to take Marie shopping soon. Marie and Remy walked by the water, hand in hand. It was getting late but the city was still very much alive. Remy plunked himself down into the sand, pulling Marie with him.

"You're getting sand all over my dress!"

"I'll get it dry cleaned for you," Remy promised.

He leaned back in the sand, staring at the sky. Marie reluctantly laid next to him, head on his arm. She couldn't help but feel incredibly corny laying on the beach and staring at the stars with her boyfriend. She blinked. Boyfriend? Is that what he was? They hadn't exactly stated anything official, just grown closer together, did that qualify them as a couple? She just didn't know, though she knew what she would prefer.

If Remy was having any of the same doubts as her, he didn't show it, merely sighed and hugged her to him. She relaxed slowly, worries about cheesiness slipping under her thoughts of her exact status with Remy. A second later she mentally slapped herself. She wasn't a blubbering school girl, she was a goddamn adult and she could handle something like 'feelings'. _Get a grip,_ she scolded herself.

Remy shifted, the sand crunching beneath their bodies. It took Marie a moment to realize he was shifting uncomfortably as if he was anxious about something. He sat them up, looking at her f she wasn't mistaken, almost apprehensively.

"Marie," he started. She looked at him, waiting for him to continue. "After the assassins killed Madison, I had a talk with Belladonna."

"I know," Marie said, stopping short of actually saying she, Henri and Logan had been eavesdropping. Remy smirked anyways.

"Belladonna somewhat made threats, nothing specific of course, mostly to be irritating. But just in case, I brought you in under the blanket protection of the Thieves Guild," Remy explained.

Marie frowned. "What does that mean?" she asked.

Remy hesitated as if searching for the right words. "We have a truce with the Assassins Guild. One of the stipulations is that we don't take jobs against them or that directly interfere with them and vice versa." Marie nodded in understanding. "Basically," Remy said continuing, "we are safe from the meddling of them, the Thieves are protected against the Assassins and if anything happens against that, it triggers a breach of treaty and probably a war."

"Okay," Marie said slowly.

"Each guild can offer blanket protection, basically saying it's someone we would go to war over." Marie looked distinctly uncomfortable at that. "For all intents and purposes, it makes you and honorary Guild member."

"What's to stop both Guilds from making loads of protected people just to tick each other off?" Marie asked.

Remy laughed, looking highly amused. "Oui, that does sound like something we'd do. But no, that means revealing who we are and what we do to someone, which is a security risk and something we usually try to avoid."

"Should I feel special?" Marie asked wryly.

"Very," Remy answered.

Marie kept looking at him, feeling there was no way he was done. "And?"

This was when Remy started to look more anxious. "The thing about being an honorary Guild member is that it can be insisted that you attend all-Guild member events." Marie raised an eyebrow. "And Belladonna is insisting you attend the joint Guild celebration of the treaty between the Thieves and Assassins."

The words were barely out of his mouth when Marie scrambled to her feet, spraying sand everywhere. Remy hastened to follow.

"Why does she want me there?" she demanded. "Will she be there?"

"Yes," Remy answered.

Marie threw a handful of sand in Remy's direction. "The Queen of the Assassins personally wants to meet me? Well that's a terrible idea! Why does she want to meet me? What does she want?"

"Probably just to try to intimidate you," Remy said.

"Oh!" Marie said. She threw her hands in the air, sending sand everywhere. "Intimidated by a woman who can kill people with a TV remote, I wonder if that would be intimidating?"

Remy winced. "Chère…"

"Does she want me dead?" she asked. "Remy, does she want me dead?"

"No!" Remy said hurriedly. "Marie, I'm so sorry. I would've kept you out of this if I could, but it was the only way to keep you safe. I didn't think she'd insist on your attendance. I know it's frightening, but that's literally all it is. She can't touch you, it's just to be scary and annoying. The blanket protection was the only way I could do it, I'm sorry."

Marie stopped and stared. "Oh no! No, Remy, I don't apologize, I know you were trying to keep me safe, I'm not mad at you, just frustrated. There's no way this is going to end well."

Remy tentatively pulled Marie into a hug, wondering if he was about to get a face full of sand. Remy was seeing more and more of Logan-esque traits in Marie as days went by. But Marie didn't attempt bodily harm, she merely let him hug her.

"The event will be nerve wracking," Remy conceded, speaking into her hair. "But no one there is allowed to hurt you. No one is allowed to physically harm anyone, it's a day of celebrating peace. We'll irritate and bother each other, but neither Guild wants an incident that will incite war."

Marie nodded against him and breathed out. "Okay."

"Mercy and I will help you prepare," Remy promised.

Marie snorted against him. "That means Mercy gets her excuse to take me shopping."

Remy smirked. "Probably."

Marie rolled her eyes and pulled away. She started off through the sand back toward to car. "Let's go prepare for a party with murderers."

Remy followed. "My favorite kind."

Marie was right, Mercy used the Treaty Celebration as a marvelous excuse to drag Marie around to the most expensive boutiques in New Orleans. Marie was less than thrilled about it, but Mercy was having a hell of a time. Marie had tried on everything from very short clubbing skirts, to cocktail dresses to elaborate evening ball gowns. Mercy forced Marie into trying on various articles of jewelry. Marie gaped when Mercy told her that the set she was wearing was worth 2.3 million dollars. She froze, utterly refusing to move until Mercy removed the necklaces, bracelet and earrings. Mercy rolled her eyes.

Remy explained the basics of how the Treaty celebration would be. The leaders of both Guilds, Jean-Luc and Marius Boudreaux, would make speeches followed by an elaborate five course dinner. After would be socializing and the 'ball' aspect.

"Dancing," Marie repeated in disbelief. "Thieves and Assassins get together and…dance?"

"Oui," Remy said. "And here you thought we aren't civilized."

"I didn't say that," Marie said. "I expected something like…I don't know, a knife throwing contest?"

Remy gave her a mock disgusted look. "Why that would be just barbaric!"

Marie snorted. "You don't expect me to be dancing do you?"

"Actually, it probably will be necessary, oui," Remy said with a raised eyebrow.

Marie shifted uncomfortably. "Uhm…"

"Don't tell me a southern belle like yourself never learned to dance," Remy teased.

Marie gave him a scathing look. "Not ballroom. My school had a big outbreak of grinding dancing."

Remy shook his head. "Grinding, while it's something I'd love to do if you're so inclined," he winked at her, "does not count as dancing."

Marie rolled her eyes. "And I'm sure you're just a dancing expert," she said dryly.

"Well not an expert," Remy said smiling. "But I am fairly wonderful.

"And so modest," Marie added. He gave a false bow.

"Looks like I'll have to teach you."

Marie was not overly thrilled about dance lessons. She never considered herself to be an overly clumsy person, but her gracefulness in combat didn't translate to the dance floor. Remy for one was highly amused by this, even when she accidentally stepped on his feet.

"I've seen you swirl around a dojo floor like a dangerous ballerina, beating adversaries all to hell and still managing to make it look effortless," Remy said, twirling her out then pulling her back in until they were nearly nose to nose, Marie breathing heavily. Remy's breath was warm against her cheek when he spoke. "Yet you still can't manage something like a three count waltz?"

Marie stared back from inches away, challenging. "I've been a bit busy saving the world multiple times, I'm sorry I didn't get around to _waltzing._"

Remy laughed and adjusted the hand on her waist as a new song came on. He began to move while counting. "And 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3…"

Marie did her best to follow along with three count waltz but was still fumbling. Remy tried to make it into a metaphor with combat scenarios but comparisons to martial arts footwork was simply not helping her. Marie stuck to the counting, forcing her feet to go where she wanted. After a few hours, Remy had to admit she had made progress. He promised her another session the next day to iron out the kinks. Marie had waved vaguely over her should as she left.

Marie crashed into bed nearly seconds after she made it in the front door. Even though she was completely exhausted, her mind was still active. She couldn't forget the school girl questions about what she and Remy were to each other. She tried to push the thoughts away, chastising herself for being silly. Quickly, her exhaustion beat out the active mind, the last thought before she was sucked under to sleep was if they're nothing, why did the skin on her back and arm tingle from where Remy had touched her?

She was at the Guild headquarters by 3:00 PM the next day, two hours before guests were set to arrive. Mercy once again used Marie as a living doll. First was hair. Mercy pulled Marie's long brown locks into an elaborate knot at the back of her head, the white streaks artfully twirling into the design. Marie damn near drowned in the hairspray, gagging with each spray. Mercy cheerfully pretended not to notice.

She forced Marie to sit still while she applied makeup. She seemed to be an expert because though Marie felt like a massive amount of makeup was being caked on, it looked completely natural as if she wasn't wearing anything. Mercy assured her that she looked gorgeous and her eyes were amazing.

"Belladonna won't know what hit her," Mercy said. And just like that, her nerves were back. She wasn't exactly scared, no, she'd seen enough in her life to not be scared. But that didn't stop her from being anxious about being in a room full of career criminals. It seemed counterintuitive to any sense of survival instincts to waltz with assassins.

Mercy gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze before sending her behind the screen to change. "Why do you think Belladonna wants to meet me so badly?" Marie asked, pulling off her shirt and shimmying out of her pants.

"I'm not sure, could be one of a thousand reasons," Mercy called, starting on curling her own hair. "Probably because of Remy though. They're always trying to do something to bother each other." She pulled her blonde curls to the side of her neck, twisting her hair into a gathered design.

"What do you mean?" Marie asked, struggling into the dress. "Why?"

"Remy didn't tell you?" Mercy asked, sounding surprised. "He was engaged to Belladonna."

A thunk from behind the screen told Mercy that Marie had dropped her shoe. She poked her head out from the side of the screen. "He w_hat_?"

Mercy glanced over her shoulder, blush brush in hand. "They were engaged until her brother Julian decided to do something about the giant stick up his ass," Mercy said with contempt.

Marie just stared for a minute before remembering she was only half dressed and continued the fight into the dress. "What happened?" Marie asked.

"Well they were all set to walk down the aisle when Julian attacked Remy," Mercy said. She paused to apply lipstick. "They damn near killed each other, but at the last minute Remy stopped short of killing Julian even though he had the upper hand. Julian tried to kill him the second he pulled away but Belladonna stopped him."

"Wow," Marie said, finally getting the dress on straight. "How'd the Guilds ever have peace?"

"They made the treaty right after," Mercy explained. "Neither Guild wanted a war so they sat down and hashed out a negotiation which is why we're here tonight."

Marie shook her head, emerging from behind the screen. "You're all crazy."

Mercy turned and smiled. Marie looked like a Venetian goddess in her long flowing royal purple dress. "Like I said, you're going to knock them senseless."

Marie just nodded her thanks, mind whirring that she was going meet the Queen of the Assassins who just happened to be Remy's ex-fiancée. Mercy gave her a knowing look and handed Marie a necklace and set of earrings.

"Don't worry about Belladonna, she just wants to scare. Plus, it's not her going with Remy tonight, is it?" Mercy said and swept out of the room before Marie could open her mouth to respond. Remy had invited her as his date, but did she really know the motivation behind that? She assumed it was to stay close to her, just in case, but was her being on Remy's arm going to anger Belladonna more? Marie groaned, wondering just what she'd signed up for.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N Thank you reviewers, Shadow the Wolf Mistress, Untoughable Rouge, Celeste Genevieve, Umbra8191, crystalfeathers, annemariedarkhome, bologna121, Icelynne, angel897, annacat721, Ilovecookies and Chellerbelle.**

**Chapter 10**

Mercy was back in ten minutes, not giving Marie too much time to stew on her nerves. Mercy was dressed in an elegant black gown with pale gold fabric accenting part of the bodice and skirt. Tony gold earrings twinkled, drawing attention to her smile.

"We're hosting this year so the Guild leaders enter last, right after the Assassins' leaders," Mercy said, leading her to a small room where the LeBeaus were gathered. Marie managed to hide a laugh when she saw Henri violently shaking his arm, apparently locked in a vicious battle with his cufflink.

Mercy sighed and rushed over to her husband whose tie matched the pale gold of her dress. Jean-Luc caught her eye and his lip twitched up in half a smile as he winked at her. Marie grinned, her tensions easing at the other man's amused reaction. She turned her attention to Remy who was tying a deep purple tie over his obviously expensive black tux. She raised an eyebrow at the fact that the tie matched her dress perfectly, immediately suspecting it was Mercy's intervention.

Remy smiled and took her hand. "Bon soir, ma chère," he said, raising her hand to kiss her knuckles, eyes on her the whole time.

Marie inexplicably felt herself relaxing in his company. Remy didn't seem worried at all, his usual amused twinkle was in his red on black eyes. The ever-present smirk graced his features. "Good evening to you, too," she remembered to say.

His eyes roamed her face, hand still holding hers. He took in her artfully done makeup, to the jewelry and beautiful flowing dress. Marie fought off the blush rising in her cheeks. "You look beautiful," he said.

She smirked. "Thanks. Mercy did the hair…makeup…jewelry…dress…all Mercy actually. I pretty much just showed up."

"I wasn't talking about the makeup or jewelry," Remy said. "All I see is you."

Henri, apparently in a sour mood from his cufflink battle, made a loud gagging sound behind them. Remy and Marie turned in time to see Mercy whack him in the arm with a heavy sounding thunk.

"It's time," Jean-Luc said. They got into formation, Jean-Luc in front followed by Henri and Mercy, then Remy and Marie. He held out his arm and she rested her hand on his arm.

He leaned in to whisper to her, lips touching her ear as he said, "It'll be fine, I promise." He kissed her softly, then Jean-Luc flung the double doors and strode into the ballroom. From the strong way he carried himself and the haughty expression he wore, Marie was suddenly struck again by how frighteningly intimidating Remy's father could be.

They followed in the near tangible wake of power. The two Guilds were gathered in the giant glittering ballroom, all dressed to the nines, staring and politely clapping as they walked by. Marie suddenly felt very much like a show dog being paraded around the room.

They filed up to the long table in front of the room. Jean-Luc stood and greeted another man, blocking the rest of the table from view. They all sat except for Jean-Luc and the other older man at the table, Marius.

Jean-Luc cleared his throat. "On behalf of the Thieves' Guild, we would like to welcome the Assassins' Guild," he said, voice ringing through the hall.

"And we thank the Thieves for their hospitality," Marius said. "As we all know, I've been phasing myself out of Guild relations to make way for my daughter, Belladonna, who will be taking control of the Guild when I retire next year. I thank you all for helping this be the smoothest transition possible." There was more applause and the blonde woman next to him nodded. Marius sat.

"Times like these are peaceful," Jean-Luc said. "We coexist without killing each other or robbing each other blind." Marie managed not to snort at his mild comment. "Let us strive to remain at peace. Now I know we all don't have the attention for speeches so please, let us eat."

Marie wasn't used to five course meals so she spent much of the time looking to Remy for direction. They conversed casually until dessert was finished and people started to mill around the dance floor.

"Care to dance?" Remy asked. Marie immediately took the offered hand, following him to the dance floor. He spun her out before pulling her flush against his body. "Feeling all right?" he asked.

"Yeah," she answered, dancing with him, the people around them a blur of colors.

"You're doing fine," he assured her.

"I'm not that worried actually," Marie said. "I keep comparing it to being turned into a giant magnetic mutation machine and just can't be too scared."

Remy laughed and squeezed her a little tighter. "No one's using you as a weapon of any kind again," he said. Marie wasn't sure what to say to that so she said nothing, just geld to him while they danced. They made it through two song before exiting to the sides of the dance floor. They joined Theoren and Etienne, Remy greeting his cousins.

"Having fun?" Etienne asked.

"You know me and parties," Remy said.

"And you Marie?" Theoren asked.

Marie shrugged. "Worse things have happened," she said.

"Speaking of dancing," came a drawling voice from behind them. "I'm sure Remy wouldn't mind parting with his date long enough for her to share a dance with me."

Remy immediately wrapped an arm around Marie's waist, clamping her to his side as the man entered the circle. "Julian," Remy said flatly. The other man, Julian, smiled and Marie didn't like the pure hate that shone in his eyes. Remy's jaw was locked. Usually Remy was fairly good at keeping a neutral face but apparently with Julian he simply didn't give a damn. Remy was clutching Marie almost painfully.

"What about it, little one?" Julian asked, sneering unpleasantly down at her.

She raised her eyebrow, not thrilled with being treated like a seven year old. "Actually, Etienne and I were about to dance," she said. Etienne covered his surprise quickly and took her hand. "I'm sure Remy would waltz with you though, as long as you don't play grabass."

Etienne coughed to cover a snort of laughter as he pulled Marie onto the dance floor and away from stony faced Julian. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Remy and Theoren shake Julian off at the buffet table.

"Quick thinking," Etienne said approvingly. "Good job, you really wouldn't want to end up dancing with Julian. He's a rather unpleasant individual."

"I've heard," Marie said. "But I've seen his type before, just full of hate and I don't have the energy for it."

"Good, he's smelly, too," Etienne said conversationally. Marie laughed.

They finished the song and Etienne kissed her knuckles before they walked off the dance floor and right into Belladonna.

"Etienne," she said smoothly.

Etienne's face became still as he nodded at her. "Belladonna."

Belladonna turned to Marie. She raised an eyebrow and took in Marie. "You must be Marie," she said. "You're shorted than I expected." Etienne looked around somewhat panicky for Remy.

"I'm sure your man made me sound bigger and scarier each time he failed to kill me," Marie said conversationally. Etienne caught Remy's attention on the other side of the room, all but jumping up and down to flag him down. Remy's eyes widened and he immediately began to weave through the crowd.

"Speaking of," Belladonna said with a slight smile. "I believe you've met Albert."

"Albert?" Marie repeated.

"Albert," Belladonna said. "Silent 't'." As if on cue, a man in a deep blue tux appeared at her side. Marie instantly recognized him as the assassin that tried to kill her twice. She was thrilled to see that thanks to her, there was an ugly cut on the side of his head and his arm was in a sling. She was less thrilled with the look on his face. Simply put, he was pissed. Marie refused to back down from his stare and lifted her chin defiantly. Belladonna looked mildly surprised.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

Belladonna raised her chin and stared at Marie flatly. "Funny. I thought Remy knew better than to sleep with trash he picked up in random bars."

"Rather than trashing random assassins," Marie said loftily.

Remy finally made it over, wrapping an arm around Marie's waist and kissed her temple. Belladonna raised a perfect eyebrow. "You okay?" he whispered. She nodded minutely.

"Sleeping with her Remy? Really? Do you need any more notches on your belt?" Belladonna said.

Remy just smiled and turned his attention to the man next to her. "So this is the two bit assassin you sent after Marie. Twice. I must admit, I'm surprised to see him alive," Remy said.

"Yes," Belladonna said. She turned to the assassin. "You're done Albert, run along." She dismissed the man. He slumped away into the crowd and Belladonna's face turned to disgust before turning back to Remy and Marie. "It's true, if it were up to me, he'd be six feet under," Belladonna said coldly. "Unfortunately, Papa has merely decided to put him up for review with the council." Belladonna sounded well and truly disgusted.

"The nerve!" Remy said. "Outrageous!"

"Isn't it?" she said, mildly ignoring Remy's sarcasm. Her eyes lingered on Marie. She raised the champagne flute in her hand. "Until next time, Marie."

Marie raised her hand to her forehead and gave Belladonna a two fingered salute. "Lovely to meet you," she said. Belladonna smirked and wove back into the crowd.

Marie exhaled and laid her head on Remy's shoulder. "All that just for fun, to get a read on me?" she asked.

"Oui," Remy said, running his hand up and down her arm. "Which you did very well at by the way."

"Yeah," she said. "Ridiculous."

"Oui," he confirmed. He glanced at the great clock on the far wall, 10:30. "I figure we've been here long enough, want to sneak out?"

Marie looked up at him, grinning. "Really?" she asked.

Remy nodded. "Walk casually," he said, taking her hand. They meandered to the large double doors and Remy pulled her in for a kiss. Marie thought she saw Jean-Luc's eyes flicker to them but couldn't be sure because a second later Remy swept them around the corner and out of the crowded ballroom, halfway running down the hall.

They made it to Remy's car without anyone yelling "Stop!", much to Marie's shock. Marie managed to fold herself into the car without any damage to the dress. Remy threw the car into gear and they sped down the driveway, throwing gravel everywhere.

"Are they going to be pissed you bailed?" Marie asked as Remy pulled onto the street.

"Papa might be," Remy said. "But he has Henri to be the face of the Guild, he's going to be the leader someday anyways."

Marie snorted. "Thanks for getting us out of there."

"It was my pleasure," Remy said. "I've never liked those kinds of parties. My kind of party involved no clothes."

Marie rolled her eyes. "Shocking."

"You did well by the way, with Julian and Belladonna," Remy said. "Acting flippant is hard but probably the best way to deal with people like Belladonna and Julian."

"I figured so. They just like to try to be scary," Marie said with an eye roll.

Remy glanced at her, impressed by her calm demeanor. "Not scared?" he asked.

Marie shook her head. "I thought I would be, it was nerve wracking at first but no, not frightening. I knew they were just going to be a lot of strutting like overstuffed peacocks. Though your ex-fiancée trying to scare me was a bit surprising."

Remy's eyes slid to her. "Mercy tell you?"

"Yep," Marie said. "Were you going to?"

Remy adjusted his grip on the steering wheel looking decidedly uncomfortable. "Yes," he said evenly.

"When?" she asked. Her voice wasn't sharp or angry, though Remy oddly found himself wishing it was.

"It never seemed like a good time to bring up the fact that I was engaged to the Queen of the Assassins," Remy said. "And of course, the longer I put it off, the more likely I thought it was that you'd punch me in the face."

Marie smirked at that. "You know me well."

"You aren't mad?" he asked.

Marie shrugged. "I've spent the better part of two years being angry, I'm tired of being angry," she said. "You didn't do it to try to hurt me, and you didn't even know me that well at the time, it's not like you owed me anything."

Remy reached across the car and took her hand in his. "I'm sorry if I hurt you," he said.

She shook her head. "You didn't."

"Well, bon," Remy said. He pulled into a small parking lot and Marie looked around, not recognizing her surroundings. They were parked by a pier on the waterfront. People were milling in all directions and Marie was surprised at the amount of people around at 11:00 PM.

"Where are we?" she asked. Remy removed his tie and unbuttoned the top buttons of his shirt.

"This is a fair," he said, climbing out of the car and rushing to open her door. "Travelling carnival that's in town."

"It's open at 11:00 PM?" she asked. Normally she'd insist that she could open her own door but since she was so elaborately dressed, she let him help her out.

"It's an adult only carnival," he said, taking her hand.

She gave him a skeptical look. "Are there going to be strippers jumping out at us?" she asked

Remy laughed. "No, it's just an adult time frame for when adults want to go without screaming children."

"Oh," Marie said. "Good idea."

"Plus, if you think about it, tonight is the safest night you could be on the streets, all the Thieves and Assassins are at the mansion," Remy said.

The rounded the corner and she couldn't help but smile. The pier was covered with bright lights, dozens of rides and countless games and vendors. She was grinning as he led her in, both still in their formal wear. Remy immediately dragged her to the rollercoaster, tilt a whirl and some violently fast ride he called The Whipper. She shook her head, accusing him of being a nutty adrenaline junkie and demanded he ride the merry go round with her. He picked the bright pink pony to ride.

"So I have a proposition," Remy said as their horses moved up and down at opposite intervals.

"Oh, what's that?" she asked.

"We're starting an extra class for mutants in the Guild. There are more mutants joining, kids and adults and they can't always deal with their powers. We need someone to teach them how to fight and control their abilities," he said.

"And you want that to be me?" she asked.

"Yep."

"You sure?"

"Of course," he said. "You're a very skilled fighter and you have experience with power control. I'll be teaching the class with you most of the time but I want you there taking a lead role because of your knowledge and ability."

"How often?" she asked over the music of the carousel.

"Three beginning classes a week," Remy said. "Eventually an intermediate level as well."

Marie nodded. "I think I could do that," she said. "It'll be fun."

"Oh and your salary will be triple what you currently make," Remy said.

Marie's eyebrows rose. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"Oui," he said simply. "Start Monday?"

She smiled, with this she could give up waitressing. "Absolutely."

As soon as they were done on the carousel, Remy declared himself hungry and dragged her to the food stands, after winning her a giant stuffed mallard duck at the dart throwing stand. Remy quickly bought an elephant ear and plopped down on a bench, motioning for her to sit next to him.

"Are you kissing me?" she asked. "This is a $50,000 dress."

"Dry cleaning," Remy said dismissively. "Want a bite?"

Marie looked at him incredulously. "You're serious?"

"Of course," he said. "You need to live a little. Go out on the edge, sit down in a ridiculously expensive dress."

She rolled her eyes and sat just as he showed the greasy elephant ear to her. "Delicious," she admitted.

"Yep," he said, mouthful.

Marie closed her eyes and took a deep breath, taking in the ocean air. She relaxed every muscle in her body, leaning her head back, the sounds of the carnival surrounding her. "This is nice," she said. She turned back to face him. "Thank you."

He leaned in, kissing her softly. "You're most welcome." He, as usual, was having trouble reading her expression. "What are you thinking?"

She gave him a considering look before speaking. "I was wondering," she said, seemingly searching for the right words. Remy waited patiently but she didn't seem to know the words.

"Go on," he urged.

"I was just wondering what we are," she said. He frowned slightly.

"People?" he offered.

"To each other," she clarified. She fought to maintain eye contact. Remy's face became very still and blank, the pleasant look she now recognized as the mask he wore when he didn't want his real feelings to show. After a few agonizing seconds, she realized he wasn't going to answer. It was like Marie's insides her suddenly frozen. She stood, trying to save them both from further embarrassment.

"Well I guess that answers that," she said. "I'll see you Monday to start those classes." She turned and walked away before Remy could kick his brain into gear. By the time he figured out he should go after her, she was climbing in a cab and taking off down the road.

Remy ran a hand over his face, mentally cursing himself. How was it that this woman was the only one who ever made him stumble? Why did the smooth Remy LeBeau head for the hills whenever he was in her presence? He plunked down on the nearest bench and leaned over, elbows resting on his knees.

Yeah, he'd panicked. He hadn't expected Marie to ask that, most women he'd been with skirted around the subject, trying to get him to declare something first. But as usual, Marie had been bold, he should have expected that. And what did he do? Clam up like an awkward teenager with his first crush.

Yep, Remy has royally screwed up. He was sure if Henri could've seen him then, he'd never let him live it down. This was ridiculous, it wasn't like he hadn't thought about this. He had, rather often lately. Whenever someone made a comment about him being with Marie, he found himself wishing they were true. More and more, he found himself wishing to be with her and…and when she asked, he clammed up like a nervous prom date. Remy groaned. He was a damn idiot.

Marie's cab dropped her off in front of her building and she walked in quickly, ignoring her neighbors' curious looks at her high fashion dress. She locked the apartment door behind her and leaned against it, letting out a long breath. Well, that sucked. She'd asked him out of the blue, kind of sideswiped him with it. Spur of the moment and all that.

She pushed off the door, refusing to think of how much it hurt to see Remy's blank, emotionless face at her question. Very carefully, she shimmied out of the dress, hanging it in the garment bag. She'd tried to tell Mercy she'd bring it back to her the next day but Mercy promised that if Marie didn't keep it, she'd use it as a dishrag. She quickly changed into her pajamas, shorts and a tank top, and crawled into bed. The faster she could get to sleep, the faster she could try to forget the awkward encounter.

She was barely in bed for a half hour, nearly asleep when a series of loud bangs came from her front door. She shot up in bed, immediately grabbing the baseball bat she kept beside the bed. Keeping as silent as possible, she crept through the dark apartment until she was beside the door, not in front. Contrary to what you see in movies and TV, you never stand in the middle of a doorway, that's how people get shot. There were three more loud bangs and she looked out the peephole cautiously, then relaxed her grip on the baseball bat. It was Remy pounding on her door. She swung it open, blinking against the light from the hallway.

"You're a thief," she reminded him. "You could've just picked the lock."

"I could've," Remy agreed. "But I didn't really want to meet the business end of that." He motioned to the baseball bat. She gave it a swing then tossed it to the couch.

"Smart move," she said. "It's late, what do you need Remy?"

"I screwed up," he said.

"Oh?"

He stepped closer. "You wanted to know what we are to each other, what you are to me," he said. He moved his hands to her waist, pulling her in to him. Her hands were on his arms, her breath in her throat. "You're lemonade on a summer afternoon." He kissed her cheek. "You're a hot bath after being beaten all the hell." He kissed her other cheek. Cupping her face in his hands, he leaned forward until their lips were a hair's length apart. "I want you. For today, tomorrow, and as long as you'll have me." He kissed her, softly at first while she absorbed what he said, then she kissed him harder. They gasped or air, bodies crashing together. Marie groaned as Remy wrapped a hand in her hair. She backed them into her apartment, kicking the door closed behind her.

**Yeah, some unashamed fluff.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Thank you again reviewers, Saint of the Sinners, Lorelei Cicely, annacat721, alphaladywolf, angel897, Chica De Los Ojos Café, Umbra8191, ALLREMS, Icelynne, GoDrinkPinesol624, and Chellerbelle.**

**Chapter 11**

When Remy woke the next morning, he was immediately assaulted by the smell of Marie. The events of the night before came rushing back. His lips on hers, her tugging him into her apartment then bedroom. He smirked at seeing Marie's bra thrown over the bedside lamp. Remy was laying on his side, curled around Marie whose body was rising and falling with her breath. He tightened his arm around her waist, nuzzling his face into the back of her neck.

"Mm," came Marie's voice. She squirmed a little against him before settling in. Remy ran his hand up her thigh, tracing the curve of her waist until fully wrapping his arm around her. His touch raised goosebumps along her smooth skin.

She turned in his arms, pressing a kiss to his lips. "Good morning," she said.

"Good morning to you, chère," he said. He ran his hands up and down her back, hardly believing that he was actually holding Marie. This was the elusive Marie, naked in his arms, a sight he only thought he'd have in his dreams (not that he would admit that, ever).

"As much as I'd love to stay in bed, I have to go to work," Marie said. "You probably do, too."

Remy made a vague grunting noise, cuddling her closer. She laughed and disentangled herself from him. He pouted at the loss of contact but sat up while she pulled her robe on and started making her way around the room. "You know with the job at the Guild you can quit waitressing," he said.

"I know," Marie answered, rummaging through her dresser drawers. She pulled out a pair of underwear and a bra, shimmying in. "But I can't just walk out, I'll give my two weeks notice and all."

Remy, though greatly enjoying the view, got out of bed and began to dress, too. He swept her into his arms, dipping her for a kiss before leaving. "I'll see you Monday."

There was a very uncharacteristic spring in his step as he made his way home from Marie's apartment, his girlfriend. Marie acted the same way on her way to work, a smile plastered on her face, though outside the door to the bar she stopped, frowning. The hairs on the back of her neck stood at attention, giving her the distinct feeling of being watched. Cautiously, she glanced around but seeing no one, she went into the bar to give her notice.

Logan left that week. Despite Marie and Remy's assurances that all was safe, Logan refused to leave until he was sure she was safe. He'd given her a big hug and gruffly told her that if she needed anything to call immediately, also warning her off from Remy. She'd given him a smile, a kiss on the cheek and told him goodbye.

Marie was spending a lot of time at the Guild headquarters between classes and spending time with Remy. Jean-Luc also insisted that she spend lunch with the LeBeaus at the bar minimum of once a week. Marie also became Mercy's favorite babysitter for Claire so most of her time over the next few months revolved around the Guild.

Marie was alarmed at how many mutants in the Guild had power control issues. They eventually split into two classes, one for older teenagers and adults and one for youth. Remy worked with them on most days though there were times that he had his own thieving to attend to.

A few months into the lessons, a new girl of 14 was brought in, her powers just manifesting. Marie was unimpressed with the girl's flippant and cocky attitude. The façade fell once in awhile and the uncertainty shone through, but she was rude enough that Marie didn't feel any sympathy for her.

"Arielle," Remy said curtly. The blonde girl looked up with eyebrows raised and hip popped. "Pay attention." Arielle rolled her eyes.

"Looks like you're up," Marie said, beckoning Arielle forward. The girl sighed dramatically as if walking the ten steps to the front of the room was the most taxing thing she'd ever had to do. She shuffled up to where Marie and Remy stood. She looked haughtily up at them. Remy tried not to snort, positive that he hadn't been that 'tortured' when he was 14.

"We're working on controlling the size of your power emissions," Marie said to the class. "It's often easy to create huge bursts of power but a lot harder to contain it and control it in a streamlined way. This concept is roughly the same for most mutants but not all."

Arielle tried to look disinterested. "And how exactly does that apply to me?" she asked. "I throw balls of heat."

"Well," Marie said, trying to be patient with the rude teenager. "Wouldn't you like to change their size? Or shape? How fast you throw them?"

"If you pay attention, you might just learn something," Remy said, not as patient as Marie. Arielle threw him an eyeroll. "Respect for members of the LeBeau family is useful, too," Remy added. That seemed to sober the girl slightly, perhaps reminding her that while they are good allies, the LeBeaus were not to be crossed.

The Guild was vividly reminded of this the previous week when Jean-Luc ordered the execution of Aaron Levine, the traitor who was plotting to take over the Guild. Jean-Luc wasn't overly fond of killing, but in some situations he found it to be necessary. Jason, the thief that had lured Marie out, wasn't killed but information he possessed posed a problem. In the end, he was administered a large dose of a drug designed by Guild doctors. It was originally designed as something similar to a steroid but had the unfortunate side effect of severe memory loss, most often at least twenty years of your life. The Guild occasionally used it to wipe security risks' memories and place them in mental institutions around the country so if any memories resurfaced, no one would believe them. That's what had happened to Jason. Arielle and the rest of the Guild members were forcefully reminded of the power of the LeBeaus.

"So you're going to fire at targets like normal, but instead of firing watermelon sized heat bursts, try for cantaloupe sized," Marie instructed. She turned Arielle to face the targets at the far end of the reinforced room. The rest of the class stood in a semicircle behind them.

Arielle stepped up and put out her left hand, aiming to take out the bullseye in the middle of two other targets. She exhaled and a ball the size of a watermelon shot through the air. It was clear and shimmering, like a desert mirage. The target was obliterated.

"Focus on the feeling of when you fire, visualize it as a muscle, one that you're tightening to make the emissions smaller," Marie said.

Arielle glared but turned back to the targets. She took a deep breath and put her left palm out, face screwed up in concentration. With a yell, a wave of heat shot from Arielle's chest like a shockwave.

"Down!" Remy yelled. The class ducked in time, barely. There were shimmering balls of heat shooting from Arielle's body at random intervals and in random directions. "Get out, go!" Remy yelled, ushering the students out.

Marie was against the wall next to where Remy was crouched. She could see Arielle's face, full of pain and panic. Arielle yelled as her body shook, becoming distorted with that shimmering mirage look.

"Crap," Marie muttered. She glanced over at Remy and in that second he knew what she was going to do.

"Marie, no!"

But it was too late. Marie dodged away from the wall, launching herself at the young girl. She barely managed to dodge pumpkin sized heat spheres erupting from Arielle. Marie threw her hand out pushing past the excruciating heat and grasped the girl's wrist, immediately beginning to absorb her.

Arielle's mirage look faded and she collapsed to the floor. Marie, gasping, gained control of the power quickly, finding it like a mix between controlling the abilities of John and Jubilee. She quickly diffused the power and called to Remy, telling him it all was clear. He rushed over immediately to where Marie was hunched with Arielle, unconscious from exhaustion.

"She's okay, I think," Marie said breathlessly. She moved her hand to the girl's face to check her temperature and gasped in pain. The hand she'd used to push through the heat to grip Arielle was red and burned.

Remy swore. "We need to get you both to Dr. Renard now," he said, scooping up Arielle. Marie followed. The class was standing outside the door, eyes wide. "That's all. See you next lesson."

Marie, Remy and Arielle ended up a floor up in the hospital wing. Arielle was getting fluids through an IV while Renard was applying a salve to Marie's burned hand.

"It's minor," he assured her. "It should clear up in a little over a week." He turned and checked on Arielle, Remy and Marie following him with their gazes.

"What about her?" Remy asked Marie.

"From what I can tell, if she builds up too much energy, she'll start to get feverish and expel heat like that," Marie said. "She'll have to be an active kid to get rid of all that energy. None of this video game and TV only stuff."

Remy nodded, eyeing the training thief. He turned back to Marie. "Do you have any idea how terrible it would've been if you weren't there?" Remy said. "You saved her life today." He leaned in and kissed her, lips lingering.

"I'm just glad she's okay," Marie said. "She's going to need to learn a lot."

"Lucky she had you for a teacher."

Marie was right, Arielle needed all the help she could get. It took a month and a half before she learned to keep herself from overheating. Remy was right, too, Arielle was damn lucky to have Marie to teach her, someone who literally knew exactly what she was going through. Jean-Luc commended Remy on his decision to hire Marie as the mutant instructor. Another way Marie just seemed to continually make his life better and better.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N Wow so I can't believe it's been almost a month since I updated this, my bad. Everything kind of falls away during summer. Thank you again to loyal reviewers, crazy-InsanNe995, Kiren, Mirror's Mirage, Anon, Heatherlina, piratearrow, crystalfeathers, Shadow Sass, angel897, Umbra8191, Saint of the Sinners, Celeste Genevieve, Chellerbelle and Icelynne. **

**Chapter 12**

Marie continued working with Arielle, even increasing their meetings to private lessons three times a week. Remy observed some of these classes to try to pick up on Marie's teaching techniques. He frequently found himself marveling at her ability to not punch the 14 year old in the face. Arielle was arrogant, rude and easily frustrated. Whenever she lost control of that anger, little heat balls would fly in every direction until she got ahold of herself.

"You're used to getting what you want from sheer brattiness. You're enough of a pain in the ass that people usually give you what you want to shut you the hell up," Marie told Arielle one afternoon. Arielle gaped at her. "You need to learn to control your emotions and control yourself, then you'll get control over your abilities. And you'll be a better thief."

"I'm already a good thief," Arielle grumbled.

"Maybe," Marie said. "But to be a great thief you can't randomly shoot balls of destruction. It's bad if you're trying to be stealthy."

Remy smirked from his side of the room. He liked the snarky side of Marie. Everything she said was true, too. A thief needed to be absolutely in control of their emotions, to be able to clearheadedly assess a situation or else they'll end up in jail or dead. Arielle glared but kept silent, grudgingly admitting that Marie was right. Marie set up another target and made her way back to the young girl.

"I hate this," Arielle grumbled. "It sucks."

"Don't ever hate being a mutant," Marie said sharply.

"Why not? I don't want to be the person accidentally frying the priceless painting I'm trying to acquire, this is just stupid," she grumbled. Marie sighed.

"There is nothing wrong with being a mutant. Right now it's hard because it's new, just like everything is hard in the beginning. Once you get control, it will be a lot of fun, I promise," Marie said. Remy gave her a thoughtful look.

Arielle grumbled, "Yeah I guess so."

"So your power seems to act up when you're scared, nervous or angry right?" Marie asked.

Arielle shrugged. "Yeah I guess so."

"Okay," Marie said. "I need you to think about this carefully." Arielle tapped her foot impatiently. "Think about what it is that makes you most angry."

Arielle glared at her. "And why does that matter?"

"I'm not asking for shit and giggles," Marie said. "It'll help, I promise." Remy watched silently as the mood in the room suddenly turned serious. "It doesn't have to make sense, sometimes anger doesn't make sense," Marie said kindly.

Arielle seemed to think for a minute as if she had to sift through all the things that made her angry. "People assuming I'm bad at doing something because I'm a girl," she said. She raised her chin defiantly at Remy, challenging him to say anything. He just looked back, face blank, trying not to show his surprise that she felt that way. He'd assumed her answer would involve being irritated about something like a curfew.

Marie nodded, no trace of amusement or condescension on her face. "Good," Marie said. "That's actually very good."

"How is that good?" she demanded.

"It's good because that's something that should bother you," Marie said. "Never let anyone tell you that you can't do something, especially if it's because of your gender."

"Thank you, after school special," Arielle muttered though her tone wasn't as sharp as it was before. Marie smirked slightly.

"It's righteous anger. It's the kind that is perfect for controlling your power. It's anger you can use."

"Okay…"

"Aim at the target," Marie directed. Arielle did as she was told. "Think of every time someone made a joke about you needing to go play with dolls, everyone who thinks you're worth less than the boys, every single person who looks down on you for being a girl. And think of this as a giant middle finger to them. Now, fire a short burst for three seconds and make them small."

Arielle screwed her face up in concentration and small shimmering balls shot from her palm, smattering over the target. "Yes!" Arielle yelled, panting. She looked up triumphantly at Remy and Marie. Marie grinned at her, nodding.

"Good, that's enough for today. Go on, you're free," Marie said. With a grin, Arielle left. Remy came to Marie and wrapped his arms around her.

"So I thought it was the X-Men's theory that using positive emotion always is better than negative?" he asked teasingly.

"That is a generally accepted X-Men line of thought," Marie said, leaning into his embrace. "But I've found strong emotion of any kind will do, as long as you can control it and don't let it consume you."

"Smart woman," he said, kissing her temple.

They met the rest of the LeBeaus for lunch. Henri was sitting with his head on the table. "Henri!" Remy called jovially. Henri jerked his head up and glanced around blearily, part of a mushroom stuck to his chin.

"Whozair? Whazgoinon?" he asked, confused.

"Late night, mon frère?" Remy said with a wink at Mercy, who rolled her eyes in turn. "Mercy keeping you busy?"

"No, I wish," Henri muttered, rubbing his eyes. "I'd love to get her to put out though, she's getting frigid."

"Hey!" Mercy said indignantly. Henri's eyes popped wide open, apparently previously unaware that his wife was in the room.

"Let's move on," Jean-Luc said, firmly closing the discussion. "I'd like to commend Marie on the success of her classes."

"Oh," Marie said, eyebrows raising in surprise. "I-thank you."

"Of course," Jean-Luc said, inclining his head toward her. "We owe you a great debt."

It was lucky that all the LeBeaus loved Marie so much because she started spending a lot of time at the mansion. She started staying overnight at the LeBeau mansion at least once or twice a week. Remy gifted her a few drawers in his obscenely large dresser, teasing her about women popping in and taking over men's lives. Marie had taken a lacy bra out of her drawer, innocently suggesting she could keep it at her apartment instead. Horrified, Remy apologized immediately. That night they'd gone to dinner, Remy insisting that they celebrate their three month anniversary. He presented her with a jewelry box to put in his room.

One of the perks of spending so much time at the mansion was getting to play with Claire. She'd had a lot of experience with children, but babies were something new and she found herself loving it. Claire, who was now at 15 months, had almost all of her teeth and Marie spent many days chasing the shockingly fast girl. Claire still couldn't precisely speak, she had mama and papa down, but had problems with Marie's name, pronouncing it 'Mar-ee'. She simply delightedly screamed 'PINKY!' whenever Remy came into the room.

"It's magenta," he told her with a kiss on the forehead. Remy gave a card a light charge, enough to barely make a pop. "See? Magenta."

Claire shrieked delightedly, shrilly yelling. "Pinky, Pinky!"

Remy had given up with a sigh but Marie could tell from his smile that he wasn't actually bothered.

A few weeks after their three month dinner, there was a small party at the Guild headquarters for Remy's cousin Etienne's birthday. Despite his insistence that he wanted something simple, they still ended up with a large garden style lunch party. Etienne made sure to make polite conversation with everyone, but Marie had the distinct impression that he was rather uncomfortable with all the attention. When she mentioned this, Remy said, "He's a thief, chère. When there's a lot of attention on you, it usually isn't a good thing."

After a few hours, the guests left, leaving Remy, Etienne, Theoren, Marie, Mercy and Henri playing pool. In the other corner of the room was a poker table where Theoren's twins Evelyne and Gerard were playing poker with Etienne's daughter Tatienne and a few other kids.

"Wow, Etienne," Mercy said, glancing at the kids. "I can't believe Tatienne is 14 already."

"I know," Etienne said, leaning over to take his shot. He and Henri were playing against Theoren and Remy. Mercy and Marie had called next game, promising the destroy them. "I had to take her makeup shopping the other day. Horrifying."

"I did the same when Evelyne turned 14," Theoren nodded sagely. "It's been a year and it hasn't gotten any better. Only now that they're 15, Gerard's started with the fighting."

"Hey!" Gerard called, turning his head to look at his father. "It was only like twice! And I only hit Oliver because he called Evelyne a cu-"

"We get it!" Theoren yelled over. Gerard grumbled and went back to the poker game. "It's true though," Theoren said in an undertone to the rest of the adults. "Evelyne turned the guy down and he spread a bunch of rumors about her. She was pissed and was going to break into his house and screw with is life but Gerard didn't seem to have the patience for it. He beat the hell out of the guy when he heard he called Eve the c-word."

"Sounds like something we'd have done," Remy said.

"I know," Theoren said. "Hard to punch him for something most of us would do."

"What'd you do?" Mercy asked.

"Punished him for not being subtle," Theoren said. "We told him revenge is all well and good but be clever about it."

Marie smirked to herself. She was used to the idea of teaching children to turn the other cheek, but the Guild members were more concerned with making sure they weren't caught.

Henri tool his shot, sinking the 4 ball. "Claire's going to be a handful isn't she?" he asked with a sigh.

Mercy smiled. "She's going to be incredible," she said. "So Theoren, Etienne and Henri all have children, seems like it's your turn Remy."

Remy gave them an indulgent smile. "You've been saying that since I was 21," Remy said. "Henri's older than me and just had a baby, I have time."

"Come on," Mercy teased. "You can't tell me the thought of a little baby doesn't melt your cold little heart."

Remy flashed to the image that seemed to pop into his head periodically over the last few months, the image of Claire being cradled to Marie's chest. "Let's be honest Mercy, do you really like the idea of a mini-me running around?"

Mercy pulled a face. "As terrifying as that is, it still would be adorable. Oh look, you lose."

Remy glanced down and sure enough, Mercy was right. He'd been so distracted by the conversation that he accidentally hit the 8 ball into the pocket instead of the ball he was aiming for. With a sigh, he handed the pool stick over.

"Thank you," Marie said with a smile. "It's nice to see you lose once in awhile."

Remy stuck his tongue out at her before kissing her on the forehead. "Henri," he said to his brother. "No pressure but if you lose to her, I'm disowning you."

Henri grumbled as Remy went to grab another glass of wine.

Marie smirked and began the game. They talked more, conversation topics straying from upcoming jobs to Remy's 'old age' to the kids' choice of music. Their timing was perfect because the song playing on the radio next to the teenagers' poker table changed to the song Pokerface by Lady GaGa. Tatienne and Evelyne screwed up their faces in disgust while Gerard and another boy bobbed their heads to the music.

"You know, she may dress weird, but the music isn't that terrible," Gerard said. Evelyne made a gagging noise next to her brother.

Tatienne rolled her eyes and said to Gerard, "Bitch, please. Remy could so read Lady GaGa's poker face."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N Hey look at that, I'm updating in a reasonable amount of time! Crazy isn't it? Thank you again reviewers, CraZy-InsaNe995, Umbra8191, MmmHotSouthernCajunSauce, Kiren, Shadow Sass, Icelynne, Chellerbelle, angel897, NikiTrick, RachelAnneGrey, and Mirror's Mirage.**

**To NikiTrick, I'm extremely pleased that you enjoyed the last line of chapter 12! But as someone who also suffers from asthma, I am VERY sorry that it sent you into an asthma attack! Hope you feel better.**

**Chapter 13**

Marie had quit her job at the bar months ago thanks to working full time at the Guild and making four times her previous salary. But she still liked to pop into the Talisman from time to time to visit friends that still worked there. Her old boss, a large man with a booming voice named Peter, was always happy to see her and constantly trying to get her to take her job back. "You're the best at dealing with the drunk nut bags!" But Marie insisted she was very happy where she was.

She decided it was a good night to stop by after a particularly obnoxious day of training young mutant thieves. She pulled up to the Talisman, ready for a nice night with a few friends she'd been neglecting. Dressed for the night out, she pulled up to the bar around 9:00 PM. She hopped off her motorcycle and was a few paces away when a group exiting the bar cut in front of her. She waited a bit impatiently for them to pass when she got that familiar prickling on the back of her neck.

Marie's eyes darted around, finally landing on a shadow in the alley a few buildings down. It was a definite outline of a man. He retreated further into the shadows but not before Marie recognized him. She turned right around and immediately started the motorcycle, speeding off in seconds. She drove faster than normal, weaving like a maniac through the New Orleans traffic. By the time she made it to the LeBeau mansion, her adrenaline was pumping so strongly through her veins that she felt almost like she was experiencing a panicky sugar high.

She was inside in seconds, almost running through the hall. Luckily she didn't run into anyone and have to step to explain herself. Remy looked up in alarm as Marie burst into his office.

"Marie?" he asked, immediately rushing around from behind his desk.

"I saw him," she said breathlessly.

"Who?" Remy asked.

"The assassin who tried to kill me, Albert or whatever his name was," she said.

"Where?" he asked.

"Outside the Talisman, I saw him in an alley then came straight here," she said.

"Good," he said. "Are you sure it was him?"

"Not…not 100%, I couldn't see all of his face," she admitted. "But I really think it was him."

"I believe you," Remy said. He pulled her in for a hug, circling his arms around her shoulders and pressing a kiss to her temple. "Stay here tonight, we'll figure it all out tomorrow, I promise."

She let out a breath and wrapped her arms around his waist. "I guess my fight or flight chose flight tonight," she muttered, sounding disgusted.

"And I'm very glad it did," Remy said sternly. He lifted her chin with his fingers, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "I'm very happy with you running in a situation with a known violent adversary, especially if you don't know how many there could be."

He leaned in and kissed her gently, still holding her chin.

"Remy, being an advocate of safety," Marie said with a light laugh.

"Maybe I'm a health conscious Robin Hood."

"Does that make me Maid Marion?" Marie asked.

"Oui."

"I'm not sure how I feel about that."

He gave her a quick kiss then a smile, saying, "Too bad."

Marie, slightly calmed down, retreated to Remy's room to get ready for bed. Remy sat at his desk, brow furrowed. There was no reason for Marie to see the assassin again. The client was dead, the contract was void, even Belladonna had admitted it. That meant one of three things. One, Belladonna lied and Marie was still being hunted, but Remy doubted it. Two, Marie could be mistaken, but he didn't think that was likely either. Three, Albert was following Marie for a different reason. To Remy, that was most likely what was going on and it made him highly uncomfortable.

After another hour or so of work, he left his office for bed. The sight that greeted him made him grin. Marie was fast asleep, a book next to her hand. As silently as possible, which was very silent, he moved around the bed, pulling back the blankets and sliding in behind her. Marie made a muffled groaning noise and rolled over, curling into his side. Exceptionally comfortable, Remy turned off the light, wrapped himself around Marie and went to sleep.

The next morning, Remy did something he usually avoided if at all possible, he made contact with Belladonna. On purpose. Her secretary, a cold woman named Patrice, gave him an icy smile, informing him that Belladonna was busy with more important things and would get back to him when she could. Remy, unable to blow up the secretary through the video link for her rudeness, leaned over and said, "Well when she can take the time to pull out whatever man is currently between her legs, we'll be here."

Remy didn't like having to throw snide barbs every time they were in contact but that was just how the political landscape was working. Luckily, Belladonna seemed mildly irritated with the games too because she got back to him quickly.

"What do you want?" Belladonna asked, not bothering with the usual insult-filled pleasantries.

"Skipping the bitchiness today? How refreshing of you," Remy said. "Well I'm calling to ask you why Marie saw your assassin Albert, if that even is his real name, outside the Talisman last night?"

Belladonna's face became very still, the only sign of her surprise. Remy just happened to know her well enough to notice. "You're mistaken," she said smoothly. "The assassin you know as Albert is on no active assignments. He is suspended pending an inquiry."

"Really," Remy said doubtfully.

"Really," Belladonna said. "Your little twinkie is being paranoid."

"Maybe," Remy said. "My only suggestion is keep your house in order. I'd hate to see the illustrious Assassin's Guild lose its hold on its members."

Belladonna gave a very unladylike growl and cut the connection. Remy sighed. Freaking assassins. He met Marie before class but didn't get much of a chance to talk to her until a few hours later when she was done for the day.

"Belladonna says he's not active, so he could just be trying to be a dick," Remy said.

"I'm not going to just sit inside," Marie said. "I'll be careful and vigilant, but I'm not going to be afraid."

Remy smiled. "Good, that's what I expect of you."

"I've got to head upstairs to babysit Claire," she told him.

"Actually, you don't," Remy said with a smirk. "I got you the night off."

"Oh really?" Marie asked. "And what exactly will we be doing?"

"Hopefully each other," Remy said cheerfully. "But first, we're going out."

No matter how many times she badgered him, Remy refused to tell her where they were going. All he would say was to dress casually. Mildly irritated, she dressed in simple jeans and a black shirt, warning him that if she looked dumpy, it was solidly his fault. Remy cheerfully told her that quite frankly he didn't give a damn and that she was beautiful either way. Henri hit him for being a suck up, so Mercy hit Henri for not being romantic. Marie and Remy left before it came to more violent blows.

She was still unsure where they were going until they came to an arena surrounded by cars and a huge sign reading NEW ORLEANS HORNETS. Marie immediately forgot her irritation and craned in her seat, trying to get a better view. Remy grinned, satisfied with himself for remembering their conversation months ago when she mentioned missing pro sports events, especially baseball and basketball.

Marie turned to him, smiling. "You crafty little man."

"You of all people should know chère, I am most definitely not little."

Marie rolled her eyes but couldn't bother to actually be unhappy with him. He pulled into a parking garage, paying a little extra to keep his care a bit safer. "We'll fly out to a baseball game soon."

They walked in, hand in hand. Marie wasn't sure what seats she was expecting, but it definitely wasn't courtside. To say she was excited would be a massive understatement. Marie, never being rich, was very used to seats in the nosebleed section. But Remy being Remy of course spared no expense. She thanked him, long ago giving up on any notion of talking him out of spending money on her. Remy would always in some aspects be extravagant.

The Hornets were playing the Portland Trailblazers, a team Marie had never seen play before, but then again she hadn't gone to games often either. They were so close to the action that Marie could actually feel gusts of air that were displaced by the players as they whizzed by. One time, the ball actually flew toward them at an alarming speed, though they both managed to duck to the side in time. The person behind them wasn't as lucky and received a broken nose. Marie and Remy glanced at each other with identical 'whoops' expressions on their faces. Both of them had the reflexes to catch the ball, but both ducked.

"We'll send flowers," Remy said with a laugh.

They were tied at halftime, though during the third quarter, the Hornets slowly started pulling into the lead, completely obliterating the Trailblazers in the fourth quarter. They left in the post-win buzz, Marie now with a Hornet's button attached to her bag.

Remy's arm was draped lightly over her shoulders, her arm snaked around his waist as they made their way to a nearby sports bar to continue the victory celebration. Remy laughed at something she said, pressing a kiss to her hair when he felt her body go stiff. Remy immediately looked up and began scanning the immediate vicinity for danger.

"What is it?" he asked, moving them toward a wall and away from the exposed area in the middle of the crowd.

"He's there," Marie said. Remy followed her gaze and sure enough there was Albert the Assassin, standing across the street from the arena with his hands clasped behind his back. He stood stock still, just standing. As much as Remy would have loved to confront the man, he knew it would be a terrible idea, especially in a crowded area with this many unknown variables.

"Come on," Remy said, ushering Marie around the nearest corner. They zig zagged through the alleys, using Remy's unique knowledge of the city and a few interesting underground tunnels to put distance between them and the assassin, also hopefully to confuse him. They reached an underground entrance to a dilapidated warehouse. Remy produced a panel from somewhere on the wall and entered a code, the door popping open with a hiss.

"This is a safehouse and cache. We keep dozens around the city," Remy said. He let her through a series of winding corridors until they hit a garage. "We have to assume our car isn't safe."

They took a nondescript SUV and tore out of the garage. The ride was quiet. Remy was focused on their surroundings and Marie was glaring angrily out the window. Remy took her hand once they were safely inside the headquarters' walls.

"This is fucking ridiculous," Marie said. Remy raised an eyebrow in surprise at her outburst. "I'm serious, this is beyond stupid. He has no reason to do this, what the hell is his motivation? I'm done, I don't care. He isn't innocent, I'm going to end this any way I have to." Marie flung the door open and stormed out of the SUV.

Remy managed to stop her with an arm, spinning her around to face him. "I'll speak to Belladonna again."

"Fat load of good that's done so far."

"I'm trying, Marie," Remy said sharply. "What else do you want me to do?"

"You know what? _I_ want to talk to her." Marie slipped out of his grip and marched inside.

"Marie, you can't-"

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Remy LeBeau!" Marie snapped. "I'm either going to talk to her now or I'm going to go over there and talk to her in person."

Remy groaned. He had no doubt that despite not knowing the way, Marie would march out into Louisiana in search of the can of murderers. "Fine," he said shortly and turned toward the video conference room. Marie followed.

It took over twenty minutes to get Belladonna on the line and once she was, she looked extremely harassed and irritated. "Remy, it's three in the goddamn morning, what could you possibly want?"

Marie stepped into the frame. Belladonna raised her eyebrows mockingly. "I want to know why the hell we saw your man again tonight?"

"Remy, letting your chippie talk to-"

"Listen lady," Marie said, interrupting the other woman. "I don't have time for your word games, political shit or personal problems with Remy. I want to know why an assassin that you say is benched keeps popping up everywhere I am?"

"Remy, do you have no control over her?" Belladonna asked.

"None whatsoever," he said, smirking.

Belladonna looked slightly affronted at Marie's tact. "He isn't active," she said.

"Which begs to question," Remy said quietly, "why he's running around New Orleans after a former mark, one who is under the blanket protection of the Thieves Guild as a friend and employee?"

If Remy didn't know any better, he'd say Belladonna look decidedly uncomfortable at this. "Look Remy. I'm only part of the board that decides what to do with Albert. Believe me, if it was my decision alone, which normally it would be, he'd be killed for his failure and putting the Guild in danger."

"But it's not your decision?" Marie asked.

Belladonna's eyes slid to her. "No. The board called for a review to decide his punishment. It's an old rule that some are twisting to fit their purposes."

"And that is?" Remy said.

"Some do not believe we should be allied with the Thieves," Belladonna said. "They think Albert was justified and shouldn't have had interference with his contract. The problem is that while he's under review, he's untouchable until the suspension is lifted and the review is finished. What I'm saying is that my hands are tied."

"Maybe your Guild needs to keep a better watch on your security risks," Remy said.

"Believe me, I'll be changing some laws for the board when this is over. And he probably is just frustrated and trying to scare you," Belladonna insisted but in a voice that Remy identified as nervous.

Remy shook his head. "You have never been naïve, Belle. Don't start now," he said then cut the connection.

Remy closed his eyes and shook his head. Marie was standing with hands on her hips, still pissed. He couldn't blame her, the Assassins were taking an obnoxiously passive approach to the situation. He looked around at her.

"You know, if we see him again, we'll have to kill him," Remy said wearily. He knew it was necessary, but he was a thief not an assassin. He didn't relish the thought of killing. "I know you're not a fan of the thought…"

"He isn't innocent," Marie said again. "I'm honestly not worried about it. Won't killing an Assassin create problems between the Guilds, though?"

"We'll say him stalking a Guild asset and one of its leading family members constitutes an act of war," Remy said. He and Marie were speaking very somberly, very aware that they were now very seriously discussing premeditated murder. It needed to be done, they both knew that, but Remy also knew that it would take a lot out of Marie to do it, a lot more than it would him. He would spare her this, if possible. When it came time, he would be the one to do it.

**A/N Sorry for any mistakes regarding the Hornets or their arena. I've never been there.**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N So we are nearing the end! I'm working on another story also, the sequel to Noctambulism, I don't have a title yet but I'm working on it. Thanks again to all the reviewers, CraZy-InsaNe995, Kountry101, Mirror's Mirage, angel897, Chellerbelle, Icelynne, Umbra8191, and Shadow Sass.**

**Chapter 14**

Once Remy accepted the fact that he'd have to kill the assassin Albert, he wanted to get it over with. The sooner he could, the better. Unfortunately, Albert didn't make this easy. After they talked to Belladonna, they didn't see Albert again. Marie suggested that maybe he was being more subtle, but Remy doubted it. The whole Albert issue, his actions and the board review, was leaving a bad taste in his mouth. If he wasn't mistaken, Belladonna would be slamming down her fist and taking back control of her Guild. Remy wouldn't blame her one bit.

Another few months went by and while she had a few instances of the uncomfortable hair on end feelings, Marie didn't see the failure of an assassin again. She threw herself into her work with fervor. Arielle took two steps forward when she discovered she was able to mold the shape of her heat discharges into dart-like arrows, but also fell a huge step back when she induced second degree burns to a fellow classmate. The boy was taken to the medical wing where his legs were treated. According to Dr. Renard, he wasn't going to suffer any permanent damage.

Despite the fact that he was soon fine, this incident shattered Arielle's confidence. She suddenly couldn't perform the simplest task such as throwing heat balls of multiple sizes, something she'd mastered a month earlier. Marie tried to help, promising Arielle she knew what it was like to be afraid of her powers, but the teenage girl was stubborn, completely convinced that she was unique in her suffering. Her performance in group lessons suffered dramatically as did her progress in her private lessons.

After one of these private sessions, which Marie had previously downgraded to once a week, she suggested that they increase meetings to twice a week. Arielle turned a violent shade of red and Marie was sure the girl was going to start screaming. Instead, Arielle's face screwed up and suddenly the girl burst into tears. For a few seconds, Marie could only gawk at the girl sobbing loudly, tears streaming down her face.

"Arielle? What is it?" Marie asked, carefully putting a comforting hand on the girl's back.

"I di-didn't mean to do it," she cried out. "It w-was an accident!"

"What was?" Marie asked. "Burning Oliver?"

Arielle hiccupped and nodded. "Y-yes!"

"Oh sweetie, I know that!" Marie said. "We all know that, no one thinks for a second that you hurt him on purpose!"

"He does!" Arielle said, still sobbing. "Or he doesn't care that it's an accident! He won't even talk to me!" Marie had noticed some definite coolness from Oliver directed to Arielle, but she'd attributed it to the fact that, put plainly, Oliver was an ass. "He dumped me, I told him I'm sorry and he didn't even care!" At this, Arielle was overcome by another wave of sobs.

Ah. It was starting to make sense to Marie. She hadn't known that the two were dating but she wasn't surprised, the thieves were all secretive to some degree if they wanted to survive. She gently guided Arielle to a nearby bench and sat next to the crying girl. Arielle was still borderline hysterical. Marie leaned over, putting her elbows on her knees and clasping her hands in front of her.

"You know," Marie started slowly. "My powers manifested when I was a teenager. Actually I was only a couple of years older than you."

Arielle didn't answer but the way she turned her head slightly made Marie think she was listening.

"I was with my boyfriend at the time. We were in my room, I was showing him the route I was planning on taking on my road trip to Alaska. He kissed me and…and it happened. Suddenly I was sucking out his life force. I didn't even realize I was doing it until I heard his voice in my head, screaming at me to stop."

Arielle had turned her red bloodshot eyes onto Marie as she spoke. "What happened?"

"He was in a coma for three weeks," Marie said hollowly, the memory still haunting her. "Most of that time, his voice was screaming at me, asking how I could do that to him." Marie shook her head. "His psyche calmed down after a month or so and I realized I wasn't evil. But that was after I packed up all my stuff and ran away. His psyche stopped calling me a monster, but I still thought I was."

"How'd you get over it?" Arielle asked. The tear tracks on her face were slowly drying.

"I found a friend, Logan, who knew exactly what I was and wasn't scared of me. Thanks to Logan I started thinking maybe I wasn't monstrous after all."

"Did your boyfriend still think you were?"

"I don't know," Marie said with a shrug. "I never saw him again."

"I wish I never had to see Oliver again," Arielle grumbled. "He thinks I'm horrible."

"Well I don't," Marie said firmly. "And if Oliver thinks so, he's being a whiny little child."

Arielle snorted lightly. "Yeah maybe."

"Arielle. Oliver doesn't matter. You know that. He'd being mean to you because he thinks it's fun to see how you react, all he is is cruel," Marie said. "You stop responding to him at all, I guarantee he'll be crawling on his hands and knees for attention. Men are like that."

Arielle laughed. "Even Remy?"

Marie snorted. "Remy wants attention even when I'm already giving it to him," she said. "It does get better."

"So what you're saying is put my big girl panties on and deal with it?" Arielle asked.

"Yep."

"Huh," Arielle said. She stood, wiping the last remnants of tears from her face. "Cool."

Sure enough at the next group class, the uncomfortable girl was gone, replaced by Arielle and her usual swagger. Oliver was still snide and rude to her, but all she did was raise an eyebrow and go back to target practice. Just as Marie predicted, the second Arielle stopped giving him the time of day, Oliver started to desperately clamber for her attention. Arielle rebuffed him with her nose in the air. He even went as far as flirting with Arielle's friend Jasmine to get a rise out of her.

Jasmine merely gave him a disgusted look and said loudly, "Bumps on your junk isn't acne you know, that's herpes."

Marie tried valiantly not to laugh. Oliver whirled to Arielle who just smiled and shrugged. "Whoops. It just slipped out." She didn't have any more control issues after that.

For their six month anniversary, Remy was taking Marie to an upscale jazz club, promising her that it would be the best music she even heard. She dressed in a crimson dress that hit her above the knees with strappy black heels. Mercy of course went to town on her hair and jewelry. They were seated in the large LeBeau living room with the family for coffee before they left.

"I can't believe it's been six months," Mercy said, shaking her head incredulously. "Six months! That has to be a record. I think the next longest was six days."

Remy gave her an unfriendly look. "It's so nice to have the whole family together," she said dryly.

"It's true. If I didn't know any better, I'd say this is a clone," Henri said. "You're not, are you?" Remy rolled his eyes.

"Well I'm glad it's you," Mercy said to Marie. "Better than some of those hollow eyed skanks he used to parade around with."

"Seriously," Remy said. "Why is everyone always here with us?"

"Not always," Marie said with a wink.

Remy grinned. "On that note, I bid you all goodnight, it's time for us to leave."

Remy's description of the club didn't disappoint. The club was dimly lit, the walls painted a deep blue with lighter blue sheer fabric wall hangings in some places. Elegant dim lights lined the walls. The tables were small and round with deep gray silk table cloths and a small candle in the middle.

Remy and Marie were ushered to a private little alcove very close to the stage. Marie was glad she chose her dress rather than something less dressy. The waiter in little white gloves brought them the wine Remy ordered. Their food was brought right before the band took the stage.

True to Remy's word, the band was easily one of the best Marie had ever heard. Remy alternated between watching the band and watching Marie. This was one of the reasons he liked playing poker with her, her face always showed exactly what she was thinking. Remy took great pleasure in watching her reactions to the music. The band broke for a brief break about the same time that they finished. Marie ordered some tiramisu for dessert.

Remy leaned over and took her hand from across the table, gently caressing her fingers. She smiled at him, the Marie-smile that always threatened to melt him into a sappy compliant puddle. He blurted it out without any forethought at all, as if his filter had just been sucked clear away. "I love you," he said. Marie blinked in surprise. "Ma chèrie, I apologize for being forward and I know it's out of the blue and it probably doesn't help that my family keeps telling you what a whore I am, but je t'aime, Marie, truly I do with my whole heart."

Marie smiled slowly at him, bringing Remy down from the edge of a coronary episode. "I love you, too," she said. Remy grinned like an idiot. "And as for what your family said, well I don't care much what you've done with your past, I'm more concerned with what you're doing in the present and what you plan on doing next." Remy could have soared.

The rest of the night went extremely well. Marie gasped when Remy presented her with the keys to a brand new motorcycle. Marie tried to protest but Remy insisted. He promised her they'd go riding as soon as possible. The band finished up and Remy paid the bill (he wouldn't let Marie see how much it cost), before they both decided they needed a bathroom stop before leaving.

Like everything else in the club, Marie was impressed with the lavatory. The women's bathroom was done in deep red, greys, black and white. There were framed paintings on the walls that Marie was sure were worth a lot of money. They even had a real personal towel for each person to dry their hands. Marie finished and stood outside the bathroom, wondering what was taking Remy so long.

Remy wasn't having as pleasant of an experience as Marie. As soon as he walked through the door to the men's room, he was blindsided with a blow to the temple. He stumbled forward, stunned, and received a vicious blow to the back, sending him crashing into a mirror.

Remy's attacker wasn't masked and he immediately recognized him as Albert, the disgruntled assassin. He raised a knife to finish Remy off when the bathroom door opened. Albert whirled at the man yelling and running out of the bathroom. This distraction gave Remy's brain time to wake up. He leaped up only to receive a blow to the ribs, sending him back against the wall. He didn't have time to charge anything around him before Albert was there, a gun to his forehead.

"Remy LeBeau," he snarled. Remy made out movement behind Albert the split second before Marie touched him. The assassin's face paled and spider webs of veins were suddenly raised to the surface. He tried to fight it, arm twitching feebly, but that small twitch was at it took for the gun to go off. Remy collapsed to one leg with a yell, the bullet hitting him in the left leg. Marie held tight, the man's memories running into her.

_He was a little boy, his father was standing over the cowering, bloody figure of his mother. He was crouching in the corner, watching as his father dealt the killing blow to the mother. He turned to his son. "Women are weak."_

* * *

><p><em>He was a young teenager in class, a pretty girl with blonde hair sitting in front of him. He handed her a pencil she dropped and smiled. She rolled her eyes and turned around.<em>

* * *

><p><em>A teenager in martial arts class, surrounded by other assassins-in-training. He'd done well but not well enough. He'd need to snap the neck faster, make sure they were dead. He knows he can do better, but he is teased anyways.<em>

* * *

><p>"<em>The client is dead," Belladonna said haughtily. "You failed to do your job and we had to dispose of him to keep him quiet."<em>

"_I can still do this," he insisted._

"_I said it's over," Belladonna said menacingly. "You'll not go anywhere near Remy LeBeau, Marie D'Ancanto or any members of the Thieves Guild." Rage bubbled up inside him. "And you're suspended pending review. You're lucky I don't kill you on the spot. Now get the hell out of my sight."_

_He turned and left, fiercely hating the smug woman. _Women are weak.

* * *

><p><em>Outside Marie's apartment.<em>

_Guild headquarters._

_The Talisman. _

_The Hornet's game. Remy. It was that goddamn Remy LeBeau's fault. He swept the target up, he took her away, he was the reason Remy's life was ruined. Remy LeBeau, he'd slaughter him._

Marie came back to reality with a start, Albert sliding to a quivering mass at her feet. She took a few deep breaths, trying to quell the blood boiling rage she'd received from the assassin.

"Chère?" Remy asked. He was on the ground, hand around his bloody leg.

He was going to kill Remy, that she was sure of. If Albert was allowed to leave this room, he would find a way to kill Remy and if he could, kill her too.

She leaned down, grabbing the gun from the twitching man. He hissed at her, void of any strength to resist. She leveled the gun at his heart, closed her eyes and pulled the trigger. The shot seemed to echo forever in the cavernous bathroom.

She dropped the gun, hand shaking slightly. Remy limped to a standing position, putting his weight on his right leg. He hobbled over to her. "Chère?"

"He was going to kill you," she said. "No matter what, all he wanted was to kill you." She looked at him fully. "Looks like I saved your ass."

The cops swarmed into the room, guns drawn. Marie raised her hands and just sighed.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N So this is the end, thanks to everyone who reviewed, Shadow Sass, ALLREMS, Icelynne, Umbra8191, Chellerbelle, Kiren, Mirror's Mirage, and Angel897.**

Marie and Remy were both escorted to the hospital by police. Marie was quickly given a clean bill of health but Remy needed stitches where Albert's bullet had grazed his leg. As soon as they were done at the hospital, they were taken straight to the police station. Marie was surprised she wasn't brought in wearing handcuffs.

When they arrived at the precinct, Remy loudly said that he was going to use his phone call to call a lawyer, praying that Marie would understand that she shouldn't say anything to the cops. He needn't have worried, Marie had dealt with cops before and in general, saying nothing rarely got her in trouble.

Detective Jackson questioned her for an hour until the lawyer got there. His questions were pretty basic, who was that? What happened? Did you shoot that man? But Marie said absolutely nothing, merely quirking an eyebrow. Jackson was about to fall off the edge of frustration when Marie and Remy's lawyer, Mr. Sheridan arrived. He insisted that unless they were being charged with anything they were leaving.

"We'll charge Marie D'Ancanto with the murder of John Doe," Detective Jackson said.

"That will be a neat trick considering you'll find the gun belonged to the deceased, multiple weapons were found on him at the time of death, my clients had no weapons, oh yes and the witness that saw my client, Mr. LeBeau, being assaulted and brutally beaten by the deceased," Sheridan said. Marie hoped they were paying him well, he seemed to be worth every penny.

She could actually hear Jackson grind his teeth before saying, "Fine, but we still need to question them on what happened."

"Of course," Sheridan said. "And before that, I will need a few minutes alone with my clients."

Sheridan spoke to Marie when Jackson left the room. "Self defense?"

"Absolutely."

"Good, making my job easier," he said.

Marie gave her statement to Jackson saying she ran into the bathroom when the witness screamed, there was a struggle over the gun and when he went for a second weapon, she fired. She left out being a life sucking mutant.

Remy's story was identical, despite the cops' attempt to poke holes in it. Yes it was an ambush, no he'd never seen that man before. Four hours later, Sheridan insisted either they charge Remy and Marie or let them go. Jackson grudgingly released them, instructing them that the police would have more questions and not to leave town.

"Anything to help the police," Remy said with a smile.

They made it back to the headquarters around 5:00 am, the hospital and police taking nearly seven hours. Even though it was early morning, the Guild was a hive of activity. People were running around, each with a job to do and a trail to make sure that police wouldn't find that lead back to the Guild.

"Remy, Marie!" Henri called from the balcony the second they walked in. "I know you're tired, but get up here!"

Remy and Marie had long since run out of the adrenaline that had been fueling them. They wearily trudged up the stairs, meeting Henri on the balcony. He started walking very fast and they hurried to keep up with him.

"As soon as you went to the police station, we started doing what we can," Henri said, referring to the activity around them. "We have people covering tracks, laying false trails, locking down any operations until police scrutiny if over and all that."

"Naturally," Remy said. His hand found Marie's and gave her a gentle squeeze. He knew she hated the idea of killing and he hadn't had the chance to talk to her since it happened.

"But the best luck we've had so far came from Belladonna," Henri said.

Marie and Remy looked at him. "You want to run that by me again?"

"Here," Henri said, ushering them into a private conference room. He spun a laptop sitting on the table to face them.

On the screen was a police report on the name Bennett Carizzo. The picture attached was of Albert. The crimes listed included petty theft, assault and attempted rape. Henri clicked to what seemed to be a psychological report stating that Bennett Carizzo was mentally disturbed, psychotic, and suffered from delusions that convinced him that covert agents were trying to kill him. The psychologist listed stated that Carizzo would be extremely dangerous if put in a situation where he felt threatened.

Marie looked up at Henri. "What's this?"

"The Assassins' contingency plan," Henri said. Remy nodded, understanding.

"So this is their backup," Remy said, then turned to Marie to explain. "Just in case something happens, these files are ready to be put into police databases. They make the person look like a crazy lone wolf and leads police away from the Guild."

"This is very good for us," Henri said. "This further solidifies your claim of self defense."

"Are they already in place?" Remy asked.

"Hours ago," Remy confirmed. "And, er, Belladonna wanted a call when you returned."

Remy sighed. "Okay, let's get this over with. Dial her up."

Belladonna appeared on the screen shortly. There were people rushing around behind her, the other Guild looking just as busy as the Thieves.

"Remy," she said.

"Belle," he answered.

"The contingency files are in place," Belladonna said, skipping preliminaries. "The man shown as Bennett Carizzo will be seen as dangerous and insane, leading him away from our respective assets."

"Hopefully keeping Marie out of jail on murder charges as well," Remy said.

Belladonna's eye slid to Marie before she answered. "Yes. It should look very good for a self defense case."

Remy nodded. "Thank you, Belle."

Belladonna nodded. "I apologize for any inconvenience this caused."

Marie looked at her incredulously. _Inconvenience?_

"Apology accepted," Remy said. They nodded, an unspoken agreement of Guild peace passing between them. The connection terminated and Marie looked at him. "Trust me," Remy said. "That's the most helpful and friendly you'll ever see her."

"So now what?"

"Now, we sleep," he said. "And wait while Sheridan works his magic."

As exhausted as Marie was, she couldn't seem to sleep. She was still trying to stomp down Albert's memories, his hateful psyche was still very near the surface. After an hour of tossing, Remy turned on the bedside lamp and propped himself up on his elbow.

"Talk to me, chère," he said.

Marie rolled over. "I'm not sorry I did it," she said. "And that scares me. I knew he was going to keep coming after you no matter what. It was logical, I grabbed the gun and shot him."

"That sounds like Assassin logic," Remy said. "You just absorbed the mind of a violent, horrible man. That psyche was close to the surface when you did this." He kissed her forehead. "I would have done the same thing and I believe even without the influence, you might have too."

"Maybe," she said. "It just bothers me that it doesn't bother me. I didn't even hesitate."

"And I think that was his psyche's fault," Remy said. "Wait until his mind fades a bit before you start blaming yourself."

Marie nodded deftly and settled into the circle of his arms, trying again to fall asleep. "What happens next time though?" she asked. "What if the next time I absorb someone like that, I can't control it and I do something horrible again?"

"This is an isolated incident," Remy said firmly.

"Hopefully."

It took two weeks before Sheridan finally reported that no charges would be filed and that the case was going to be ruled as self defense. Detective Jackson had done his very best to pin the murder on Marie, but every piece of evidence they came across pointed to his mental instability, further proving the case of self defense. The police report and psych records on Bennett Carizzo were particularly damning.

Over the weeks, Albert's psyche finally faded into the background with every other person she'd absorbed. He was particularly aggressive so it took a bit of time to rein him in, and it was particularly bizarre when he started to pick fights with other people's psyches and she had to break up the argument. She still felt guilty about not hesitating to shoot the Assassin, but she'd come to accept that Remy was right, it was the cold hearted Assassin that felt no guilt, not her. The fact that it still bothered her obviously meant that she had a conscience and wasn't as monstrous as she thought she was.

As soon as she was free, Remy whisked her away. "Where are we going?" she asked.

"It's a surprise," Remy said.

"Have you noticed that a lot of our dates end with Assassins?" she asked.

"That's why we're going away from the Assassins," Remy said.

He could only keep his secret until they made it to the airport when he had to give her a ticket. "Florida?"

"Oui," he said. "I packed your bikini."

Remy amused himself on the plane by flicking peanuts around the cabin in various directions so that they never landed in the same place twice. The flight attendant started catching on close to the end of the flight. Marie threatened to tie his hands together if he didn't stop. He told her he's never really been into ropes but he'd be willing to try bondage if she wanted. The seven year old behind them promptly asked his dad what bondage was.

When they landed, they had a two hour drive. Marie lounged in the seat with her feet hanging out the window, merely soaking up the sun and relaxing. Remy drove them to a cabin that had its own pristine beach and happened to be hours away from civilization.

"I could kiss you," Marie said grinning.

"Don't let me stop you," Remy said.

"Later," Marie said and hopped out of the car, running into the sand.

Shockingly, the bikini that Remy packed for her covered way less than she would have liked. Luckily she'd had the foresight to pack her own. Remy wasn't complaining, he still was perfectly able to gawk at Marie. She spent the next few days alternating between taking dips in the warm water with Remy and laying in the sun on the sand. They were far enough away from society that they didn't see another soul for over a week and then that was only when another boat happened to pass by.

Two weeks into their vacation, Marie was more relaxed than she could remember being in the last four years. Nowhere to be, nothing to be expected of her. She couldn't even be irritated by Remy's emergency satellite phone ringing.

"Hello?" Remy asked warily.

"_Cajun! Where the hell are you?"_ Logan's voice shouted over the line. Marie looked over from her lawn chair. _"You just disappear off the face of the planet and don't say anything?"_

"Logan, how'd you even get this number?" Remy asked. Marie rolled her eyes.

"_I yelled at that man Henri until he gave it to me,"_ Logan said.

"I'll have to talk to him about that," Remy said.

"_Where's Rogue?"_

"She's currently unavailable. I'll let her know you want to talk to her after I finish making her scream my name," Remy said. Marie hit him halfheartedly. She heard the growl across the phone.

"_Cajun.."_

"We'll see you later," Remy said and hung up the phone.

Marie leaned in, laughing and gave him a kiss. " I love you, you idiot."

"I love you, too my gentle flower."

-Epilogue-

Christmas was always a huge affair at the LeBeau mansion. Jean-Luc always insisted on the entire building being decorated lavishly and a few times he even carted in snow for everyone to play in. This year, the entire mansion was covered in red, green and gold. A massive Christmas tree took up the majority of the living room. Marie and Remy arrived Christmas Eve, having taken their own little pre-holiday vacation with their three month old, Amile.

The LeBeaus were thrilled to see her even though it'd been less than a month since they saw her last. Especially Claire who now at four years old was especially intrigued by the baby.

"Sweetie!" Mercy squealed. She rushed to them as they walked through the door, plucking little Amile from Marie. Mercy rubbed her nose against the baby's, making Amile shriek in delight.

"Mama let me see!" Claire said, pulling on Mercy's pants. Mercy led Claire to the couch, followed by Marie and Remy. "Her eyes are so pretty! Just like Oncle Pinky's!" Claire said.

Remy winced slightly. "And Tante Marie," Remy said. It was true, Amile had the black sclera of Remy's eyes but the irises were bright green like Marie's.

"You're right," Mercy said, rocking baby Amile. "She's very beautiful."

The little infant giggled, trying to catch Mercy's fingers and blowing spit bubbles.

"Yes, she is," Remy said. Amile shrieked in joy as Remy came into her field of vision. Mercy grinned.

"Amile is going to be a very spoiled little girl," Henri commented, sitting next to Mercy. "I swear, if I didn't see it with my own eyes, I'd never believe it. Marie, how did you make an honest man out of him?"

"I'm not just a pretty face," Marie said with a smile. Remy pulled her to him, pressing a kiss to her temple. "I wouldn't say 'honest' though, that would pretty solidly put you out of business."

"How's my newest granddaughter?" Jean-Luc asked, entering the room with a grin. He monopolized baby Amile for the rest of the night. Claire also crawled into Jean-Luc's lap, quickly falling asleep.

"You're right," Remy said, looking at the children in his father's arms. "She's going to be very spoiled."

After spending Christmas with the LeBeaus, they flew to New York to visit Marie's X-Men friends. Marie had returned to New York the previous year and after a few rather uncomfortable days, they fell back into an easy, albeit somewhat tense at times friendship.

"Hey," Marie said when the exited the airport, seeing Logan waiting with an SUV. She turned Amile to face Logan. The little girl smiled. "Remember Grandpa Logan?"

Amile reached up with those little hands for Logan. Tentatively, he took the baby from Marie. "Hey," he said. She gave a little sneeze then laughed hysterically. Logan grinned, starting to rock the girl in his arms.

"Grandpa Logan huh?" Remy asked, taking in the gruff Logan cooing at their daughter. "She really is going to be the most spoiled girl in the world."

"Especially with you as her dad," Marie pointed out.

"What can I say?" Remy said with a grin at her then a loving look at his daughter. "I love to spoil my girls."

They both looked over in time to see Logan making fishy faces at Amile, complete with crossed eyes and blub blub bubble noises.

**End**


End file.
